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It's ALL in the ATTITUDE
Attitude...........is EVERYTHING
Attitude is.......ALL
As a person thinketh, so shall he/she be. Yes, what a person thinks about and acts upon eventually becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. A person's philosophy is an apt reflection of who he/she is. In other words, a person's attitude influences who he/she is and what he/she will become. It also influences how he/she approaches life, what he/she feels about success, bounce back from failure, surmount life's obstacles, and celebrate life's triumphs.
Attitude is a strong component as to why a person born into the most abject and abysmal of life's circumstances become a phenomenal success and/or has one of the nicest and most positive attitude. It also explains why another person born in the best of all circumstances and the loving of homes become an unsuccessful person who develops a dour outlook in life. It also reveals why a person who is severely physically challenged have a deep gratitude towards life while a person who is perfectly healthy always find something physically wrong with him/her.
Attitude is a strong determinant regarding mindset. There are people of a mindset that is welcoming and highly anticipatory towards their particular circumstances. They view trials and travails as a lesson builder. They have an attitude of gratitude. They see every aspect of life as a teaching moment. They can laugh at myself when they err. There are others believe that all situations should be as easy and smooth as possible. They see difficulty as an insurmountable obstacle. To them, difficulties should never exist. who cannot stand any type of stress, they become totally unhinged. They are of the school that things must be as smooth and easy as possible. They see difficulties and/or obstacles as a reflection of them instead of life lessons.
A NEGATIVE Attitude Can Be.........TOXIC
Attitude..........the NEGATIVE
There are people who view their general circumstances as quite arduous, even daunting. To them, every endeavor is an uphill climb. They feel that the good things in life is always eluding them no matter what they do. They see life and their general circumstances as a deep, dark morose charcoal gray. They simply do not see any light at the end of the tunnel. Their state of being can be described from darkly purgatorial to hellish. To them, everything sucks.
There are people whose attitude can be described as negative, even toxic. They see life as a battlefields. To them, something bad is bound to occur in one way or another. This is par for the course in their minds and expectations. To them, positivity only occurs to lucky people and they are NOT lucky. They see themselves as unlucky. No, let's correct that, they view themselves as cursed. They believe that they are always under a dark cloud. They contend that they are in the 10th circle of hell.
These negative, even toxic people fail to see any good in a situation. To them, goodness and positivity are totally anathema. This negative and toxic attitude will affect in their dealings with events, situations, even people advertently and inadvertently. They will always see the bad in situations no more how good it is. In many instances, they will ONLY see the bad, never the good. Even if the situation and/or event is good, they will discount it, insisting that there is NO such thing.
These are the people who really do not expect much from life. They believe that good things will never happen to them. They also contend that they do not deserve the good things that life has to offer. They will always view their particular life situation as half-empty instead of being half-full. If they experience a failure, they will magnify it to the multillionth degree. They will loudly proclaim that this is an inherent part of their character and was to be expected. They also view failure as a chance destroyer and whatever was left of their aspirations and goals were destroyed by this failure.
Many negative people adopt an attitude that they cannot succeed either in their respective areas of choice because "it simply was not in the cards" or " they do not have what it takes to be successful". They believe that only certain categorized people or the elect are going to succeed. They will state that people like them seldom, if ever, succeed. They maintain that they might as well be content with what life gives them and make do.
Negative people can turn filet mignon into stale beef jerky. For example, a recent college graduate has looked for a job for 2 years and did not find a job commensurate with his/her education. He/she has to take a job far below his/her educational level, a clerical job. He/she adapts a negative attitude towards the job. He/she utterly detests the job, feeling that a rhesus monkey can effectively do the job with its eyes closed. In addition to hating the job, he/she feels that his/her co-workers are total untermenschen, unworthy of his/her "brilliance".
He/she sees his/her co-workers as annoyances, interfacing with them when absolutely necessary. He/she does the job in a half- hearted manner. In his/her mind, the company should be utterly grateful that HE/SHE graces the office. So what if he/she performs the task in a cursory and perfunctory matter, it is just a job, not a CAREER. In addition to his/her marginally satisfactory work performance, he/she complains about the job. Of course, he/she refuse to realize that his/her negative, even toxic attitude is affecting him/her and the workplace morale. Supervisors and coworkers know this. What this employee fails to consider is that his/her toxic attitude is adversely impacting upon his/her future employment and career opportunities.
An employee is terminated from his/her job through a fault of his/hers. Instead of viewing this termination as a new beginning to a new phase of life/career, the termination is see as quite catastrophic. He/she feels like a dismal failure. He/she further believe that all is lost and all hopes of ever having a career, even a job is destroyed. According to him/her, he/she is the worst of the worst. The negative person's attitude towards any situation which pertains to him/her is bleak. To them, any adversity is the kiss of death instead of an impetus to reinvent themselves and move on. They refuse to see any sort of adversity, failure, and/or any obstacle as life lessons that they can learn from. That would be too much of a stretch to them.
A Positive Attitude.................IS
Attitude...................the POSITIVE
There are people who see the good in most circumstances and situations. They see in the joy of the consistencies and inconsistencies which is known as life. They love life and the world. To them, everything is a gift to be savored and appreciated. They know that situations, circumstances, and experiences are a series of ups and downs. However, they will never permit the downs to distract them from the beautiful wonderfulness that is living. They maintain that the less positive aspects of life as part of its grand mosaic. They strongly believe that it is the more difficult and less positive aspects of their respective situation and circumstances is what makes it very intriguing, complex, and oh so interesting.
Positive people are of the school and opinion that a situation and occurrence is neutral on its basis in most instances. They further maintain that it is WE who makes the situation and/or occurrence either good or bad by the basis of our perception of and general outlook on it. They strongly contend that life is what one makes of it. They strongly maintain that in order to get the most out of life and any endeavor which one undertakes, one must adopt a positive, fully engaged approach. They assert that attitude and mindset is related to outcome and results-good in, good out (GIGO) or bad in, bad out (BIBO). It's that simple.
Positive people refuse to adopt a victim mentality as far as their life goes. They see success and failure co-existing. They take credit for both their success and their failures. Besides that, they assess their failures and see what they can learn from them. If they can learn from them, well and good. If they can't learn anything from their failures, they refuse to dwell on their failures as they consider that to be a total waste of time and energy. Their motto is NEXT.
Positive people are quite adept of making a succulent situation out of a crappy one. It's all relative to them. They also have a rebounding resilience. They do not see failures, obstacles, difficulties, and other negative things as destroyers and hindrances. They see such components as enhancing and strengthening. They also view such components as challenging and what is life if it is too easy. They never, ever want it to be easy-they want some toughness in the ingredients of life. That is what makes life more spicy and......interesting. They want some tang with the sweet. They want it full throttle! They can see heaven in hell.
Positive people know how to make the most out of any opportunity. A recent college graduate has to take a Mcjob which is far beneath his/her educational level. He/she sees the job as a foot in the door. He/she wants to learn as much as the job as he/she can. He/she performs his/her tasks in an efficient and professional manner. He/she even volunteers for assignments beyond his/her job title. This positiveness is noticed by co-workers, supervisors, and/or other superiors. Within six months of his/her employment, a job commensurate with his/her educational level is open in another department. The supervisor puts in a positive word for the employee. In addition to that, one of the co-workers knows someone who has a more specific job more related to the employee's interest of study. This employee's positivity impacted on his/her future employment and career opportunities. As a result of the employee's good work performance at the Mcjob, better job opportunities came along. They are the true alchemists of life.
Positive people see any endeavor and/or situation as an exciting . They also love risks because they love to reinvent the wheel and face new challenges. To them, what is life if not an adventure. They do not want to be among the living dead. They are always going, doing, and experiencing. Those components are what keep them actively engaged and alive. They also believe in being self-starters. They are of the school either a person lets life happens to them or they make life happen. They intend to be fully participating in and being active contributors to life.
Conclusion
One's attitude and mindset are influential as to how he/she approaches life, how he/she undertakes endeavors, and how he/she encounters and experiences situations. One's attitude even determines how a person feel about his job/career and other important things in his/her life. Everything starts with an attitude and mindset.
People with a negative attitude see everything as abysmal even when it is positive. They also tend to exaggerate the negativity regarding their circumstances. Because they seldom see the good things in their lives, they maintain that they are unlucky and/or cursed. They also view failure and other difficulties as quite catastrophic. They maintained that they do not worthy of the positives that life has to offer them. Their negative attitude and mindsets oftentimes incur negative events and occurrences in their lives.
People with a positive attitude see the goodness in many a bad situation. They know how to create positive outcomes even in the most undesired circumstances. They see life as both positive and negative. They view the negative aspects of life as necessary for growth and development. They have a reverence and appreciation for life. They believe in being proactive regarding their life. They truly exemplify the statement that life is truly what one makes it. Yes, one does become what he/she thinks about and conceives of for good or for ill.
© 2013 Grace Marguerite Williams