Developing a Positive Attitude

Developing a positive attitude is your gateway to a more fulfilling life.

But it can be one of the most difficult things to do if you are mired in struggle, disappointment and even heart break.

Being positive, even in the face of great difficulty, will open up opportunities in life. Always expecting the best will happen to you, will attract the best to you.

You might have a strong negative self-image.  What you perceive of yourself is how you present yourself to others.  As you imagine and visualise negative aspects of your appearance, so you present a negative image or appearance to others.

Even in your normal conversation you might make negative statements and self-deprecating remarks about yourself constantly, which affects the root of your behaviour and your beliefs.

You might be subject to negativity from people around you, even those close to you: your partner, spouse, boss, teacher, colleagues, children, parents, and your relatives.

You must refuse to accept this negativity and challenge it. This will be a large step towards developing a positive attitude about yourself and your life.

If your self-image was positive, you would present a positive image of yourself to others.  What you imagine to be good and attractive – will be so to others.

Other people might make negative assessments of your abilities, skills, knowledge, intelligence, creativity, and common sense.  If you were a negative person, then subconsciously you might agree with these assessments and believe that they are true.

These are other symptoms of a negative attitude, preventing developing a positive attitude:

Systematically you will run through past failures and disappointments in your mind.  This will affect your behaviour now, and you will be more inclined to believe that you will fail in your attempts to be successful in your life.  This will dampen your spirit, your motivation, and your confidence, and inhibit your ability in developing a positive attitude.

At its most extreme a negative view of yourself may lead you to see your entire world in a negative light. You begin to believe and act like a “loser”. You rarely see anything in a positive light and can't be convinced that you can achieve what you want in life.  You find it hard to believe that you will succeed and you can see only gloom and doom on the horizon.

In life many things happen to us.  Sometimes we call them bad luck.  Luck happens to us everyday and it is we who label it good, or bad.  In most of the bad things that happen to us we can usually find a positive outcome – no matter how small.  Always try to find this positive.  A positive attitude will ensure that your life is rich, happy and you achieve your dreams and goals.

In developing a positive attitude you must get what you perceive as “bad” things in your life into perspective.

Often what looks negative on the surface is a blessing in disguise.  Of course we will all suffer from traumatic events in our lives.  Each one of us will suffer the pain and heartache of losing our loved ones.  We are right to deal with this for what it is – a great sadness and loss.

Thankfully, this type of loss is rare, and might happen just a few times in our lives.  This is not bad luck – it is participating in the cycle of life in which we all must take part.

Other events in our lives will be sad, of course.  Relationship break-up, the loss of possessions and illness.  But what happens to us is not the important thing – it is how we deal with an event that is important, and also where it leads to and how it equips us for our future.

The anxiety that accompanies the projected break-up of a relationship – fear of loneliness, rejection, loss of status – may resolve itself in a new independence and confidence.  Loss of possessions may result in freedom from burdens.  Illness may lead to self-discovery and new perspectives.