Weekly Wellness News

August 20, 2007

Feature: The Power of Attitude

We've all heard the saying: "Attitude is everything!" Is it, really? I believe it is.

Everyone has positive events in their life sometimes. Everyone has negative experiences sometimes. The typical day contains some good and some bad. We can't always choose the circumstances we're confronted with, the environment we're in, or the people we're surrounded by. We certainly can't choose the actions or opinions of others or control the world around us. Life, as a whole, is entirely beyond our control.

One thing, one critical thing, is within our control: our attitude. Most of us spend most of our time choosing our attitude unconsciously, out of habit. This attitude choice is typically not supportive or helpful in achieving our goals or living from abundance. Rather, the unconscious attitude choices are reactionary, stressed, depressed, distant, exhausted.

But we can choose the attitude we take at any moment. That's right, each instant provides an opportunity to change our state of mind. We can decide to be happy, or creative, or confident, or relaxed, or whatever else we might want. That choice opens the door to living beautifully, to having a great day rather than a bad one.

An amazing thing happens when we choose our attitude: we start creating a different reality around us. A cascading chain-reaction begins that affects everything we experience in life.

Let's say you decide to feel happiness. Maybe you're having a rough day, with screaming kids, a nagging spouse, a demanding boss, or thick traffic. However, you choose to be happy anyway. In that instant, your mind opens up to the positives around you. In that instant, you start to perceive the things that are going your way, you start to realize the positives in your life, the goodness in the significant people in your life, the beauty of the world. This, in turn, makes it easier to be happy, which brings even more wonderfulness to mind. It's a cycle that builds on itself again and again with each moment.

Our habits, built up over years, can make it difficult to keep that happy feeling for any significant length of time. After all, our minds are used to being called on to find the negatives in the moment and will interrupt our happiness again and again until we start down the trail we're used to. That's when we have to make the choice again to be happy. It might take weeks, months, or even years, but eventually we can break those habits and replace them with our new attitude choices.

Some people think of this as 'fake it until you make it'. I disagree with this phrase, because nothing is being faked. I'm not suggesting you fake being happy, I'm suggesting you choose to be happy for a moment or two. That choice empowers you to be able to make the same choice again at a later date. If you do it often enough, it becomes your new frame of reference, your new baseline.

Choose to be happy. Choose to be relaxed. Choose to be confident. You have the power, exercise that power to find the full wonderfulness life has to offer!

Other news

• Not everything online is what it seems: Drug website safety fears raised [news.bbc.co.uk]
• Next, researchers are looking into 'squishiness': Nerve cell stretchiness uncovered [news.bbc.co.uk]
• Camels may be hazardous to your health: Pet camel given as gift kills Australian woman [www.msnbc.msn.com]

From the editor

I have returned from my survival course, and have spent the last week gaining back all the weight I had lost. I was eating about 1100 calories per day, and my body needs around 2500 on a lazy day, so I was operating on at least a 1400 calorie-per-day deficit. I lost 20 pounds, and those of you who know me know I don't have 20 pounds to lose. Now the initial barrage of cravings are past, and I'm falling back into my eating and fitness routine.

I've also learned a whole new perspective on what it means to live minimally. I had a blanket, a rain poncho, a knife, the clothes I was wearing, a set of long-johns, a wool cap, and a heavy coat. That was it. For four weeks, I was without all electronics, communications, tools, and modern conveniences. The amazing thing wasn't that I was able to manage, it was rather that I was able to thrive with what I had. Now I look around and realize just how much junk I really collect in my life; what truly matters can fit in a single small bag, and everything else is dead-weight.

Of course, as I get used to being back, I'll probably decide that some of the 'junk' really does seem necessary. I've bent really far in one direction, now I'm bending back the other way. The cool thing, though, is that I will end up somewhere less materialistic than I was before. I have changed as a result of my experience.

Anyway, I'm back, I'm well-fed, and I'm catching up on sleep in between catching up on email and news. I look forward to hearing from many of you and finding out what you've been up to while I was away.

Healthy thoughts,
Jeff

Copyright 2007, Jeffrey Eliasen.
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