I admit that I struggle to maintain a positive attitude some (many) days. I start off with every intention of having a positive day, then something happens—usually it is merging into traffic. If I am lucky, I can make it well into the day before my attitude goes on life support.
Our attitude is a matter of choice. Unfortunately, it is not simply a daily choice. Some days, it is a frequent choice. It is not only a matter of how we start the day, but also a matter of how we persist through the day.
A positive attitude follows principles similar to Newton’s laws of motion: inertia and reactive forces. We must start the day with a grateful attitude (grattitude), but we must also resist the forces that might knock us off course.
I start my day with journaling—focusing on well-centered goals and rehearsing my mission and values. In addition, I spend time considering the “opportunities” (I prefer “opportunities” to “challenges”) that confront me. I emphasize “from have to get”—per Andy Lausier. This daily routine helps overcome the inertia and sets me off on a positive path. I am, however, challenged to maintain this path.
Once I let negativity in, it is destructive to my grattitude. The daily challenge is to not allow negativity to get a footing. This is a choice. If I choose to allow even the slightest negativity, the result is solely my responsibility. Sadly, there are times when I open the gate to negativity and don’t really care. I hate those times. I hate it because it takes greater effort to overcome the negativity and start fresh the next day. I more I let my grattitude slip, the more challenging it is to get back to positive.
The life of grattitude may be long or short. The choice is ours.
Carpe momento!