Attitude - Stop, Think and Change

Have you ever stopped to think about your attitude in a given situation. Then tried to change the course of it by changing your attitude towards that situation? I read the following recently in a health article published by the Boston Medical Center. It is part of an ongoing program of health related information to employees of the company I work for. I'd like to share a bit of this with you as it has some very good tips.

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This practice of changing the way we think about situations is called “cognitive restructuring.” It involves examining initial feelings and if they are negative and/or irrational, replacing them with thoughts that are more constructive.

And how do you make these changes? How to put this into practice? The next time you find yourself responding negatively to a situation, ask yourself a couple of questions: Am I being rational? Is this a realistic way of looking at this issue?

Increase your self-confidence. Successful change starts with believing we can do it! That’s self-confidence. One way we can develop self-confidence is to draw on our personal experiences for examples of success. Surely you can look to other parts of your life for positive changes you’ve made in the face of challenges. You’ve held down a tough job, raised children, earned a degree, or battled a serious disease. All these teach us ways to overcome obstacles and succeed.

Learn positive self-talk. Many who are successful at weight management use positive self-talk to keep their attitude up. Self-talk is mental dialogue that we have with ourselves to stay on track. When you're feeling discouraged or run-down, try the following phrases:

• "I'm getting healthier every day."
• "I'm a good person, and the changes I’m making will improve my life."
• "I may make mistakes along the way, but I know how to learn from them and make fewer mistakes in the future."

Avoid negative self-talk. Negative self-talk can undermine your efforts. For example, just because you don’t adhere perfectly to a plan is no reason to give it all up. Also, thinking you’re all on your own in a battle is another.

Positive thinking helps you live longer! Positive thinking helps you make important changes in your life that will make you live longer and better lives. Scientists are also discovering that the act of thinking positively is itself associated with longevity.

In a new study published by the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from the University of Wisconsin found that people who have more activity in the left side of the brain - brought about by feelings such as enthusiasm and optimism - have a stronger immune response.

By contrast, activating certain brain regions associated with negative emotions appears to weaken a person’s immune response. The study’s authors say stress appears to interfere with the brain’s ability to communicate with certain types of immune cells.
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The article provides some actions you can take;

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Don't laugh at these suggestions. They may sound corny, but following them allows you to make positivity a new "habit."

• Write down your original reasons for beginning. Read them often to remind yourself why this is important to you.
• At least once a day, take time to smile at yourself in the mirror. Focus on your body’s strength, and your courage and resilience in beginning and continuing to improve yourself. Value the strong and courageous person you are!
• Select several positive phrases, and repeat them to yourself or out loud. Say them when you first wake up, while driving, or close your eyes at home and repeat them out loud to yourself.
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“The greatest revolution in our generation is that of human beings, who by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.” -Marilyn Ferguson

You can make a change in your attitude, just stop what you are doing, think about what it is you are doing and then change what you are doing.

Daily Self Reminding

Minaret of the Jami al-Bahr Mosque.

Also referred to as the Sea Mosque or al Bahr Mosque. My apologies to any other appropriate names. It is located at the Ha`aliya Hashniya harbor in Jaffa, Israel. The tower is part of the religious mosque built by the Ottomans in the 16th Century. This minaret or large tower is used to issue the call to prayer five times each day.

It would be great if we could have someone call out to us daily to motivate us. Something to get us to maintain a positive attitude - of why we are trying so hard to succeed in all that we do.

I pulled the following from The Daily Motivator by Ralph Marston.

Will a positive attitude solve all your problems? No, but it can open your eyes to the valuable opportunities within even the most difficult situations.

Will a positive attitude make you rich and powerful? No, but it will serve as a constant reminder that you can achieve whatever you choose to achieve.

Is a positive attitude a way to escape from reality? No, in fact a positive attitude is a very powerful and effective way to successfully deal with reality.

Will a positive attitude magically bring into your life all the things you desire? No, but it can enable you to see and to follow the very real path from where you are now to where you want to be.

Will a positive attitude bring you any new energy or resources? No, but it will give you vastly greater access to the overwhelming abundance that is already yours.

Do you want to fully live the best that life has to offer? A positive attitude will enable you to see it, so that you can be it.

What Motivates You

You are sitting there and they ask that question. The one you wish you had given some thought to in your everyday life. The one we seem to take for granted, "what motivates you?" I'll be honest in saying I tend to take my own motivation for granted.

You may wonder why it matters, what reason is it that I should now. It matters because it tells others a lot about you. It also drives your success and failure in accomplishing most anything. In a job interview, the hiring manager can ask this question to gauge how well you may perform in a given situation. An article by Carole Martin on the Monster.com site provides an example of two different answers. Ms. Martin says, "writing out your thoughts will help you think about times when you felt energized by your work, times when you looked forward to going to work."

The question can be asked about several things in your life such as;

- What motivates you to exercise?
- What motivates you to volunteer time?
- What motivates you to attend church?
- What motivates you to raise your family?
- What motivates you to write a blog?

When you write down your visions and goals in life, you should ask yourself this question about motivation. But how do you find out what motivates your life? You can try the suggestions in an article by Rich Douglas. An important statement he makes is, "whether its at work or in your business, motivation skills are essential to reaching your optimum performance and gaining that winning edge."

Here are some of the motivitating factors from the Ohio State University Leadership Center.

· Power, people seeking authority in the workplace gain satisfaction from managing projects, influencing others, and maintaining control over difficult situations.

· Safety and Security, people who seek stability at work are motivated by a steady paycheck, good health-care coverage, and a safe work environment.

· Achievement, if you're roused by project and team successes, you most likely need to stay challenged to remain happy in your job.

· Autonomy, people seeking autonomy long for independence - freedom to set their own schedules, work pace, and work-related destiny. Yet, these desires don't necessarily make for a poor team player.

· Esteem, most likely, you are motivated by others singing your praises.

· Equity, you just want everyone to be treated in a fair and consistent manner.

· Affiliation, you are most likely energized by working closely with others.

And not every thing above will be your motivating factor in everything that you do. But many of us will find that we tend to fall under a few of these. When you find what motivates you in a particular area of your life, embrace it and see how much more successful you will be in that part of your life. "Everyone is motivated a little or a lot to do something or nothing. Motivation is the internalized drive toward the dominant thought of the moment. By definition, motivation is 'motive in action'." - Denis Waitley

Find what motivates you and harness the power of understanding that motivation. Strive to feed that motivation daily.

Being One Of Trust

Socrates said, "the first key to greatness is to be in reality what we appear to be." Is that not something that each of wants in other people? That they be as they really are. As part of human nature, we want to believe in others around us. But to do so, you must trust in what is revealed to you. All of us start out at a distance, with skepticism for what another person may be saying.

Think of your first date, of that first business meeting or even people you meet in everyday life. The tendency is to remain guarded to information given. It causes us to evaluate the words, the actions and the nuances of your meeting. Not until you have satisfied your own mind will you give your trust to another.

There are those that give trust easily and without condition. There are those that are difficult to gain trust from. There are different tones and variations of trust when it comes to people. The reasons vary from one end of the spectrum to the other. It isn't until we are able to know that person will we ever know why. So, “the best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them" is how Ernest Hemingway put it.

Now look at yourself, look at your own ability to open up to others. Are you difficult to know as a person, do you allow yourself to be known? In the simplest way I know how to say it, we will all get 'burned' once in a while. But you shouldn't spend life closed to everything that is out there. All of this is done with the intelligience and education that life has to offer. We do not do this blindly but with the knowledge gained by various means. There will be the good, the not so good and all that happens in life.

If you learn how to open up, life will open up to you. To close yourself to others would appear to me that you've chosen to simply wait out life. Waiting for life to end and 'please just let me get get through it without experiencing it.' I've known people who have chosen not to engage. Life slides by them like the odd flower along the road. A flower that will never have its sweet smell enjoyed by others. Never to multiply as it sits alone. Only the occassional bee to extract a bit of the flowers essence because all of us do leave an impression in life.

Open yourself to the possibilities in life by being who you really are. Just be a part of life on a continual basis and live life like a great flower among many in the rose bed.