“Attitude is a little thing that
makes a big difference” Sir Winston Churchill
Let’s face
the facts: for most of us, it would be much easier to list what’s wrong with
our lives than what’s right. To counteract that natural tendency, I have put
together a table of the pros and cons of my current circumstances. (Actually,
the most important “pro” is that I figured out how to make a table in Word.
There you go!) I have listed the negatives in brown on the left. The positives
are typed in blue on the right:
|
Ongoing medical problems in my family
|
Have medical insurance
|
|
Chronic illness is not resolved
|
Daily improvement of the
problem
|
|
Haven’t been able to work much for years
|
New job starts this week
|
|
Still have a 20-year-old car
|
Hey, it works!
|
|
Not able to buy many new clothes
|
Have plenty of old ones
|
|
Unable to eat gluten
|
Able to eat lots of
other foods
|
|
Modest piano skills only
|
Daily progress
|
"Your attitude is like a price tag, it shows how valuable you are."--Anonymous quote
In two recent
blog posts, here
and here,
and I reference the wonderful article, “25 Life-Altering Quotes on How
Mindset Changes Everything” on movemequotes.com. I would like
to share some more sayings from that wonderful piece once again:
“The longer I live, the more I
realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me is more important than
facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than
circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or
say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will
make or break a company…a church…a home. The remarkable thing is, we have a
choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot
change our past…We cannot change the fact that people will act a certain way.
We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is plan on the one
thing we have, and that is our attitude…I
am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.
And so it is with you…We are in charge of our attitude.”—Charles R. Swindoll
************
“We can’t escape pain; we can’t
escape the essential nature of our lives. But we do have a choice. We can give
in and relent, or we can fight, persevere, and create a life worth living, a
noble life. Pain is a fact; our evaluation of it is a choice.”—Jacob Held
************
“Good thoughts and actions can never
produce bad results; bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results.
This is but saying that nothing can come from corn but corn, nothing from nettles
but nettles. Men understand this law in the natural world, and work with it,
but few understand it in the mental and moral world (though its operation there
is just as simple and undeviating), and they, therefore, do not cooperate with
it.”—James Allen, As a Man Thinketh
************
“I will welcome happiness for it
enlarges my heart; yet I will endure sadness for it opens my soul. I will acknowledge
rewards for they are my due; yet I will welcome obstacles for they are my
challenge.”—Og Mandino
Joyce Meyer
“Always think more about what you do have than what you don’t have.”
************
We should start our day with
empowering thoughts, such as: “I believe that something good is going to happen
in my life.”
My Conclusion
“to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the
new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”—Ephesians
4:23-24 (NIV)
Positive thinking often requires an
attitude adjustment. In my case, overcoming a lifetime of negativity is taking
years. Optimism may be a long road for some of us. Still, we must keep the
destination in sight.
Please see more about keeping a positive
attitude in my book, Accept
No Trash Talk: Overcoming the Odds
Related Post
How far down the
road of positivity are you?
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