Your life is pretty much a reflection of your attitude to it, so if your life isn’t going as well as you would like, it’s possibly time to check your attitude. Attitude determines how we view the world; so a bad attitude will make you see the problems in any situation, including ones that don’t exist.

Have you noticed than when you feel good, the world around you seems good too? Conversely, when you feel low or in a bad mood, everything seems to go wrong with your day. This shows you how important your attitude is, in making your life better for yourself.

Look On The Bright Side

No one can give you a bad attitude; you do that all by yourself. Choose to be a ‘glass half full’ person rather than one who sees the ‘glass half empty’. Look for the positive and you will find life treats you much better. You probably already know how draining it can be when you are in the company of a gloomy ‘half empty’ person; how much better do you feel when you hang out with someone who looks at the brighter side of life?

You choose your attitude, so make sure you choose a good one. Life is going to throw all sorts of problems and challenges at you; how you deal with them will determine the quality of your life. You can be a victim to life, taking a passive approach and complaining about how “it’s just not fair”; and think it’s always someone else’s fault and feel sorry for yourself. Or you could choose to have a can-do attitude, to view problems as part of life and simply challenges to be overcome, and take responsibility for your own life.

Start Your Day Right

Choose your attitude as soon as you wake up in the morning. Decide that it’s going to be a good day and that you will be able to handle whatever life throws at you. Even if you know there is going to be a challenge in your day, say to yourself “I know that is going to be hard but I will be able to manage it.” On a particularly rough day, you might have to check your attitude and adjust it several times, to make sure your attitude stays good.

Avoid The Safe Zone

To make your life better, avoid staying in your safe zone. Always playing it safe isn’t going to give you the life you want. All the best things in life are outside your comfort zone, so that’s where you need to be. Be uncomfortable, take a risk, act out of character and see where it takes you. Adopt an ‘I can and I will’ attitude and create the life you really want. If you tell yourself ‘I can’t’ often enough, you will start to believe it. Reverse this trend and start to tell yourself that you can. I love this quote “Your faith can move mountains and your doubt can create them.” I think that about sums it up!

Watch The Self Talk

Be careful what you say to yourself when you’re not watching. This is called ‘self talk’ and can be the biggest enemy to a good attitude. Your subconscious believes whatever you tell it, whether it’s true or false, so make sure what you are telling yourself is leading you towards the life you want. If you constantly think that you’re not good enough, or you won’t ever have enough money, or you hate your job, you’re making it really difficult to maintain the sort of attitude that is going to make your life better. Lighten up on yourself, give yourself a break and start to see the bright side of life.

Be Tolerant

An attitude of tolerance and forgiveness allows you to accept what happens and then move on. Holding grudges only hurts you; as does being judgmental and critical. Accept people for who they are, forgive yourself for being human and understand that things happen; it doesn’t have to be anyone’s fault. With acceptance comes the ability to move forward with your life, the way you want it to be. Complaining doesn’t help anyone and only attracts more things to complain about to your life.

Stay Positive

Being positive is perhaps the most useful attitude you can have. When you have a positive attitude, everything seems much brighter. Positive people attract positive people so you get to hang out with people who uplift you rather than drag you down. Being around positive people enhances your life. When you have a positive attitude, you find that solutions come easily to you and things don’t get you down as easily.

Be Grateful

An attitude of gratitude emphasizes all the good things in your life. Taking the time to recall the things and people you are grateful for, helps you remember the positive aspects of your life. When the good things are frequently brought to mind, your life seems brighter. I do this exercise first thing in the morning and last thing at night – I think of 10 things I am grateful for that day and list them in my mind. If it has been a particularly challenging day, I might struggle with finding ten things; I have been known to count the fact that I can think of anything at all as one of the things I am thankful for!

Take Home Message

Choosing a positive attitude or being grateful for the good things in life doesn’t mean that you stick your head in the sand and ignore the challenges and problems of life. Choosing a good attitude simply helps you see the world through clear glasses rather than the foggy ones of negativity and despair.

What attitude do you choose today?