3 Concepts You Need To Know To Improve Your Attitude

Why You Need To Improve Your Attitude

“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference” ~ Winston Churchill

Why does that matter? It matters because our attitude affects more areas of our lives than we realize. Our outlooks, behaviors, responses, and decisions are among several areas of our lives impacted by our attitudes.

Wow, let’s face it- many things in our life are out of our control. Often, this can leave us spinning and dealing with many negative emotions. Let’s look at how we can improve your attitude that will have a great impact on your life.

A positive attitude can even impact our mental and physical health and improve our productivity. Stanford’s study found that a positive attitude makes our brains function better (Stillman, 2018). A separate study conducted by Johns Hopkins expert Lisa Yanek, M.P.H., and her colleagues found that patients who thought positively were 13% less likely than their negative thinking counterparts to experience a heart attack or other coronary event (John Hopkins Medicine, 2019).

Both of these findings suggest that our thoughts have the potential to impact our outcomes. Thus, it is up to us to decide how we will let our ideas influence us, and subsequently, our lives. By implementing a few simple practices, we can learn how to shift our attitudes for the better, even during challenging circumstances.

Use Reframing To Improve Your Attitude

“My life has been filled with terrible misfortunes, most of which have never happened.” ~ Mark Twain

Our minds are constantly bombarded with negative thoughts, visions of horrible things that may happen to us, for terrifying reasons not to do the things we want to do. And yet, in the end, these horrible things rarely happen. But those thoughts cause pain by twisting us into thinking that everything is NOT ok, or all good. The worst part is that these thoughts disturb us for so long, and we never do anything about them!

Perception plays a huge role when it comes to the attitudes we hold. We view a situation to either cause us to develop negative thoughts and attitudes or positive thoughts and attitudes. It is easy in a favorable situation to establish positive attitudes because the circumstances are such that would facilitate positive feelings. However, it’s much harder to create a positive attitude during unfavorable events.

Reframing is the ability to take a negative situation and adjust our view of it positively. Reframing is about consciously deciding to find the good amongst the bad and choosing to highlight it. In doing so, we develop an ability to rise above our circumstances and thrive in the midst of them.

Gratitude

“Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for.” — Zig Ziglar

The famous saying states, “A happy heart is a grateful heart,” and that honestly is so very true. There is something about gratitude that takes our eyes off our circumstances’ negativity and refocuses our energy on the good that exists around us. Each day we should strive to find at least three things for which we are grateful. We feel the joy and happiness associated with those things we are thankful for will offset the negativity of the challenges and obstacles we face. Thus, we can adjust our attitudes for the better by simply changing where we choose to focus.

Positive Self-Talk

“Relentless, repetitive self-talk is what changes our self-image” ~ Denis Waitley

Self-talk is another way to change our internal dialogue for the better. Often, we are unaware of just how harmful our thinking is on a day to day basis. Positive self-talk will interrupt those negative thought patterns by intentionally introducing positive phrases and sayings. Through repetitive reciting of those phrases, typically out loud, we can reshape how we think and thus positively influence our attitudes for the better.

In Review

To improve your attitude may very well be the key to unlocking real happiness. While we cannot always control what happens in our lives, we control how we choose to view what happens. Our outlook, and often, the outcome is within our power.

We can choose to be miserable, or we can choose to find the good. We can choose to let life happen to us, or we can choose to take life by the reigns and make the best out of bad situations. By implementing techniques like reframing, practicing gratitude, and positive self-talk, we can reshape our minds and thoughts in such a way that allows us to have a positive attitude no matter what. And that puts us in a position to experience happiness and peace in chaos.

I am Shirley Noah, an internationally known stress expert and entrepreneur. I would love to connect further with you to help you improve your health and wellbeing. If you are interested in learning more about positive self-talk, please take a look at my popular E-course, Optimize Your Self-Talk.