Good morning,
This month I want to write about my favorite topic, attitude. I believe people are defined by their attitude, whether they are positive or negative. Having a winning, positive attitude will help you to be a happier, more successful human being.
Phil. 2:5 says to have this same attitude in yourselves which was in Christ Jesus. Here’s a good question for you this month: How can I become the person I was meant to be?
Your attitude is a necessary tool for you to accomplish that goal. I believe your attitude is the key difference between a happy, successful person and an unhappy one. Your greatest power is your power to choose, and it’s very important in maintaining your positive attitude.
Very few of us think about how to change our attitude when it starts becoming negative. The key is to understand what’s happening, so we can respond and not react to negative situations. Ask yourself this question: How do I react to anger, rudeness, sarcasm, rejection, bad service, or traffic delays? You can’t tailor make the situations of life, but you can tailor make the attitude to fix them before these situations arise. How? By responding and being in control of our attitude.
When you get down, especially on yourself, then realize what is happening and get up. You see, the real question isn’t about getting down, but staying down. We don’t have to be like a flat tire and be completely deflated. Be careful with your words like confessing you’re having a bad day today. A bad attitude is like catching the flu, but we can improve the situation using our greatest power–our choice to remain positive no matter what.
Our attitude starts in our mind and is like a garden. If you plant beans, you won’t get potatoes or corn, but you will always get beans. Thus, you can plant positive thoughts in your mind like you’re planting your garden. As the owner of your mind, you can decide what goes into your mind, whether it’s positive or negative. Lots of destructive garbage can be dropped off into your mind. If you allow garbage in, garbage will eventually come out. If you plant negatives, you will reap negatives. Yes, you will reap what you sow.
In life, we have the tendency to think the worst. When I go to Africa, we are always fearful of catching a disease called malaria. Another disease is the hardening of the attitude, and it causes stinking thinking. The best cure starts with each one of us making the choice to be responsible for our own attitude. Learn to realize what frame of mind you’re in. Is it positive or is it negative?
Romans 12:1-2 talks about renewing your mind, which I believe can include your attitude. The coach may say, “Your abilities say win, but your attitude says lose.” A student in school shows great aptitude on the scores, but he is failing, because of his attitude. Zig Zigler says, “Its not your aptitude that determines your altitude but its your attitude.”
You see, your attitude is your inward feeling expressed by your outward behavior. Our behavior or actions become a window of our soul. And our attitude determines our approach to life. In fact, our attitude tells us what we expect from life. To have a positive, winning attitude doesn’t come from anyone else, it comes directly from you. We are all individually responsible for our own view of life. Simply put, our attitude and then our actions toward life help determine our destiny.
In Phil. 4:11, Paul gives us the secret of living above our circumstances instead of under them. He says to allow Christ to be our real life and allow his spirit to empower us as we live for him. Wow! That works for me!
In closing, let me tell you about an experiment they did with college students about having a positive attitude. They took ten accounting majors and ten students who knew very little about accounting but they were very positive and could sell themselves. The bottom line was that only three of the accounting students were hired, while seven of the non-accounting students were hired. What this tells us is that employers are looking for positive winners for their team. A positive attitude expects to be hired. And more often than not, you get what you expect.
There are very little difference in people, but that little difference makes a big difference. The big difference is attitude. And even bigger difference is whether it is positive or negative.
So there you have it. Go and let your winning attitude shine.
Until next month,
Love, Grandpa