Need an Attitude Adjustment?

Life is often puzzling, isn't it?

Sometimes, it seems that everything in the world is changing—all at once.

Software and websites you use change just when you've become comfortable working with them.

Everything you've grown accustomed to is going away and/or changing.

Maybe it's a department store where you loved to shop that's closing for good. Maybe it's as simple as a courtesy card at the supermarket that suddenly has gone digital so you have to use the store app now.

Sure, we all hear that Life is change, but don't you just want to yell, "Stop changing." I don't know about you, but I'm tired of constantly updating software, hardware, phone apps, television apps, and such, not to mention filling out the same online forms every time you have a doctor's appointment because their software changed.

Can we just maintain the status quo for a nano second or two?

FIGURED IT OUT YET?

Yep, I'm the one who needs an attitude adjustment which is why that's the subject of today's blog post is that. 

I guess this is appropriate since it's spring cleaning time. Why not clean out the old brain and get rid of some bad attitudes?

Of course, we can't just chuck an attitude in the trash bin no matter how much we'd like to do exactly that. 

Attitudes can only be changed by replacing one with another, and it requires conscious effort to make that change.

HOW TO GET STARTED

Start an attitude adjustment by analyzing how you face challenges and disappointments. If life hands you a bunch of lemons, do you turn the fruit into lemonade?

Or do you pucker up in sourness and make self-defeating statements like: "I hate the way things are now."

Do you automatically think you won't succeed at something—before you even try?

When something "bad" happens, do you say: "If it's not one thing, it's another." Do you sing that old country music song, "If it wasn't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all?"

Guess what? That attitude will only mire you in defeat. Self-defeating statements come from fear and the insecurity we each host inside our subconscious. The only purpose of defeatist self-talk is to make us feel bad.

Isn't it time you told that bully in your head to take a hike?

If you perpetually host negative self-talk, you'll succeed only in killing optimism and probably grind your ego into dust. Self-flagellation in the face of change or disappointment leads only to unhappiness.

CHOOSE ANOTHER WAY

Consciously change the way you react to challenges. Write out a script and keep it within eyesight. When you're tempted to heap recriminations on yourself, read that script aloud. 

When you tell yourself something, ask if that's really true? If not, why did you think it? Because it was the path of least resistance. Change that reaction.

You change it by becoming consciously aware of what you're saying to yourself. Here's a clever hack to help you change your reaction. Wear a rubber band on your wrist. When you realize you're telling yourself something guaranteed to keep you down, pop that rubber band. 

A little pain on the wrist is worth it if it will help you change the way you react to life. 

(Sometimes it's good for me to remind myself of these life truths. Thanks for listening.)

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

Attitude adjustments can make the difference in a life lived happily and a life lived miserably.

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