Well, that’s what is says in the book I’m reading.
I understand that life gets in the way. Work may be tough and all consuming. Your family are not without their demands, yet ultimately, you are in control.
Now, it doesn’t always feel like it, does it? No matter what life throws at you it is your choice whether you face life with a positive mental attitude.
I’ve got my own challenge for the next two and a half hours as I’m sat on a plane writing this blog coming back from Corfu. I must confess that I struggle to maintain a positive attitude throughout a flight, although you might have thought seven flights in ten days, in India last February, might have sorted me out! Whilst I don’t like flying, it’s my choice as to how I feel about this flight. That’s what I keep telling myself.
Having a positive mental attitude is not always easy. It’s common to generalise from the specific and before we know it, we are thinking of the worst. It’s like talking about an ailment and somebody tells you a story about someone they knew who died of a similar complaint! Really helpful.
We do it to ourselves though. I was bitten by a dog in my early 20s, actually more a nip with its front teeth, but I remember it well because it wasn’t far from my private parts! I’d had loads of positive experiences with other dogs both before and after but for a long while, all I remembered was this Alsatian’s behaviour.
I’ve mentioned before that we are born with three fears; heights, falling over, and loud noises. All the rest is learnt. Does that mean we are born with a positive attitude? Well, we are certainly not born with a negative mental attitude. This is something we form in our own minds as we move through life.
It’s interesting when I talk to prospective clients and encourage them to tell me their nirvana. What would they do if they had complete freedom and choice? They often end up telling me what they don’t like and only rarely articulate what they would really like to do.
I find it really refreshing when I meet someone upbeat and positive but on talking to others, it has been said by some, that they struggle with this type of person as they find them ‘too good to be true’… ‘They can’t be like that all the time, can they?’
We are all given the gift of life and we can choose to embrace it with gusto and enthusiasm or wallow in society’s negativity. Expectation can cause much misery and all too often we end up being a slave to what others think we should do or be.
