"Watch Your Attitude"

"Watch your attitude!" Ever have your parent or teacher say that to you? It tends to have a negative and even shaming connotation to it. Especially when it is accompanied by the body language of someone shaking their finger at you. But in truth it is good advice. Today I will share with you an expanded and healing version of what "attitude" means and how you can use it to make your life sweeter and better.

Because I am in a healing profession I end up hearing a lot of personal stories about the pain people are in. In addition there is the type of pain a whole community or group of people may be in. A town with a mill closing down, a small community where a home town hero was killed in the line of duty. A dear school crossing guard that everyone knows, and then you open the newspaper and read that they have passed away. Everyone of us touches and is touched by the people in our life, no matter how (mistakenly) insignificant we may think that relationship is. In our busyness it just may not register on the surface.

In the end all of us have challenges in life. Sometimes we do well in handling them and other times we may find our self stretched to the max. We may be riding high and then BOOM something unexpected happens. This happens all the time and you never know when it might be your "turn".
What makes the difference between those who languish and those who are able to get past it and make their life even better? One of the keys is "attitude" ~ that very piece you may have been threatened with when you were a youngster. But now let me share with you a better, more helpful way of understanding attitude.

Think of getting dressed each morning. You want things that match...no stripes with plaids. It all has to flow or go together. Our mind operates the same way. It has a flow to it. It has several components. How we THINK, which goes with how we FEEL which goes with how we BEHAVE which goes with what we BELIEVE which goes with how we THINK etc. Just like getting dressed, it doesn't matter where you start, it all has a flow.

"Attitude" enters in under the piece of how we THINK. And it ends up being so closely related to how and what we believe. You see, the subconscious mind BELIEVES what we tell it. And we are giving it messages constantly! (Among other things it is called "self talk". ) I think the reason why it is so easy to dismiss this information is that it seems too simple to have any real power.
We could even take that last paragraph as run it thru the THINK, FEEL, BEHAVE, BELIEVE cycle. So if I think my self talk is not that important, I might feel disregarding of my own words, which might lead to allowing my behavior to be careless as to my own thoughts, allowing my thoughts to be all over the map and not controlled by me, which feeds into the belief that I don't have control over my mind and therefore my life. This one thought can spread out and like one drop of poison in a gallon of water ~ it can be lethal. What if the thought is "I am not smart enough" or "I am never going to get this" or "my entire life sucks"....

Research has proved time and again in so many interesting experiments that what we think about (including attitude) feeds into what actually occurs in our life. Said even more profoundly our thoughts create. It is so real it is almost kind of scary.. unless of course you choose to use the information.
A commonly quoted experiment is one in which volunteers know only that they agree to being part of an experiment and are given very basic information. There may even be a false "study" to throw them off and have them believe that that was the experiment. No longer on guard, the real experiment begins to take place: it is kind of like being "punked". Several people who are in on it take turns influencing the subject. One may remark that he or she looks a little pale, one may talk about the flu going around (when it isn't) while another may even tell the subject that his or her hand feels clammy. I am pretty sure you can guess the result. If the experiment is set up correctly, most people will be convinced to believe that they are not feeling well.

Now how we are influenced on the outside by advertisers, politicians, and even our family, friends and co-workers is one thing. But where we have undeniable POWER is how we influence our own self.
So if you want to apply this information to make your life better, here is how. Take any problem, concern or even goal, hope or dream you are presently dealing with. What is the thinking/self talk/attitude that you are feeding to your mind about it? Correct any negative thinking, because you cannot afford to have that going on in your mind. The bottom line is that our vast and wonderful subconscious mind is awesome and powerful.. BUT it does NOT judge the information that comes in. What YOU tell it, it believes! And that is one of the simplest, best kept secrets to making your life sweeter, better and what you want it to be.

So yes do "WATCH" your attitude and make it one that works for you rather than against you.

Until next time,
Dr. DyAnn