attitude 2 - attitude 3  

Abundance is, in large
part, an attitude.

Sue Patton Thoele

   

Could we change our attitude, we should not only see life differently, but life itself would come to be different.  Life would undergo a change of appearance because we ourselves had undergone a change in attitude.

Katherine Mansfield

      

Our attitudes control our lives.  Attitudes are a secret power working twenty-four hours a day, for good or bad.  It is of paramount  importance that we know how to harness and control this great force.

Tom Blandi

  

Those people work more wisely who seek to achieve good in their own small corner of the world. . . than those who are forever thinking that life is in vain, unless one can do big things.

Herbert Butterfield

   
One ship drives east and another west,
With the self-same winds that blow;
'Tis the set of the sails and not the gales
That determines where they go.
Like the winds of the sea are the ways of fate,
As we voyage along through life;
'Tis the set of a soul that decides its goal--
And not the calm or the strife.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox
  
If you don't like something, change it.  If you can't change it, change your attitude.  Don't complain.

Maya Angelou
  

When you look at the world in a narrow way, how narrow it seems!
When you look at it in a mean way, how mean it is!
When you look at it selfishly, how selfish it is!
But when you look at it in a broad, generous, friendly spirit,
what wonderful people you find in it.

Horace Rutledge

   

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Our attitude tells the world what we expect in return.  If it's a cheerful,
expectant attitude, it says to everyone with whom we come in contact
that we expect the best in our dealings with the world.  You see, we
tend to live up to our expectations.  And others give to us, as far as
their attitudes are concerned, what we expect.  Our attitude is something
we can control.  We can establish our attitude each morning when we
start our day--in fact, we do just that, whether or not we realize it.  And
the people in our family--all the people in our world--will reflect back to us
the attitude we present to them.  It is, then, our attitude toward life that
determines life's attitude toward us.  Cause and effect.  Everything we say
or do will cause a corresponding effect.  If we're cheerful, glad to be
experiencing this miracle of life, others will reflect that good cheer back to
us.  We are the kind of people others enjoy being around.


Earl Nightingale
  

Make yourselves nests of pleasant thoughts.  None of us yet know,
for none of us have been taught in early youth, what fairy palaces
we may build of beautiful thoughts, as proof against all adversity.
We may build bright, beautiful memories, noble histories,
faithful sayings, treasure-houses of precious and restful thoughts,
which care cannot disturb, pain make gloomy, or poverty take away
from us.  They are houses built without hands, for our souls to live in.

John Ruskin

  

If you persuade yourself that you can do a certain thing,
provided this thing be possible, you will do it, however
difficult it may be.  If, on the contrary, you imagine that
you cannot do the simplest thing in the world, it is
impossible for you to do it, and molehills become for you
unscalable mountains.


Emile Coue

  

I believe that if you think about disaster, you will get it.  Brood about
death and you hasten your demise. Think positively and masterfully with
confidence and faith, and life becomes more secure, more fraught
with action, richer in achievement and experience.

Eddie Rickenbacker

  

The faultfinder will find faults even in paradise.

Henry David Thoreau

   

Nothing can stop the person with the right mental
attitude from achieving his or her goal; nothing on
earth can help the person with the wrong mental attitude.

Thomas Jefferson
(also attributed to W.W. Ziege)

  

Things turn out best for the people who make the best
of the way things turn out.

Art Linkletter

   

  
I'll be the first to admit that when I've failed in life, I've caused my own failures. My attitude hasn't always been a positive one--I've spent quite a lot of time in my life focusing on the negative rather than the positive, the limitations rather than the potential, what I was missing rather than what I had. I can't tell you when the change occurred, or where, or how. It's been a long process, and one that I've had to keep working at in order to keep it going. I've learned through reading and watching people and asking questions that my world is what I make it--I've been blessed with many gifts, but it's up to me whether I use them or not.  If I don't, I'm pretty much wasting my time on this planet.

I always saw this as something that was so easy to say, because it was always said by people who had their acts together, people who had all sorts of gifts and abilities and who were able to use them. They didn't know anything about my life, though, and how could they tell me that I was holding myself back by the way I thought?  It wasn't until one of my students told me one day that she admired the way I had my act together that I realized that they were right.  Because at that time, I didn't have my act together--I was fighting depression rather regularly, I was sabotaging relationships and friendships because I was afraid of them, and I was basically miserable.

But in the classroom, I did have my act together, because I had a different attitude. There, I had the expertise I needed, and I knew it, and I also had an obligation to give everything I could to the students. I always left the depression and the negative thoughts outside of the classroom because I had to focus on the task at hand, and focusing on the task gave me a great deal of satisfaction and kept me, well, focused.  It took me a while (a matter of years) to realize that by focusing on the negative things in my life, I was perpetuating them, and as I slowly began to shift my focus to the positive, I found that life became more and more positive. Eventually, I became one of the people who say that it's your attitude more than anything else that determines how your life goes.


It's not easy, and it's not something that happens overnight, but I guess in a lot of ways I was like an alcoholic--it was much easier to focus on the negative, for then I could blame life for all that was going wrong.  When I started to change my attitude, I started to see that life doesn't determine who I am or how happy or unhappy I am--life doesn't care, as Earl Nightingale says. The world is impersonal. But I care, and I prefer to be positive and happy. I'm much better to myself when I am, and I'm much better for others when I am.


tom walsh
  

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If you don't enjoy getting up and working and finishing your work
and sitting down to a meal with family or friends, then the chances are
you're not going to be happy.  If someone bases his or her happiness
or unhappiness on major events like a great new job, huge amounts of money,
a flawlessly happy marriage or a trip to Paris, that person isn't going
to be happy much of the time.  If, on the other hand, happiness depends
on a good breakfast, flowers in the yard, a drink or a nap,
then we are more likely to live with quite a bit of happiness.

Andy Rooney

  

Keep on going, and the chances are that you will stumble
on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it.
I never heard of anyone ever stumbling on something sitting down.

Charles F. Kettering

  

Each of us makes our own weather, determines the color of
the skies in the emotional universe which we inhabit.

Fulton J. Sheen

  

People's rise or fall, success or failure, happiness or unhappiness depends
upon their  attitude. . . a person's attitude will create the situation he or she imagines.

James Allen

  

The greatest discovery of my generation is that people can
alter their lives simply by altering their attitude of mind.


William James

    

Since the human body tends to move in the direction of its expectations--
plus or minus--it is important to know that attitudes of confidence
and determination are no less a part of the treatment program
than medical science and technology.

Norman Cousins

 

  
Life is a refining process.  Our response to it determines whether
we'll be ground down or polished up.  On a piano, one person
sits down and plays sonatas, while another merely bangs away at
"Chopsticks."  The piano is not responsible.  It's how you touch
the keys that makes the difference.  It's how you play what life
gives you that determines your joy and shine.


Barbara Johnson
 

A stiff attitude is one of the phenomena of rigor mortis.

Henry S. Haskins

    

Adventure begins with you, personally.  It is in the way
you look at things.  It is the mental stance you take as
you face your day.  It is finding magic in things.  It is
talking with people and discovering their inner goodness.
It is the thrill of feeling a part of the life around you.  The
attitude of adventure will open things up for you.  The
world will become alive with new zest and meaning.  You’ll
become more aware of the beauty everywhere.  Nothing
will seem unimportant.  Everything will be revealed
as having pattern and purpose.

Wilferd A. Peterson

  
Articles and book excerpts on Attitude:

Attitude      the Dalai Lama
Gratitude:  Why and for What?     Bernie Siegel

Is Love an Art?      Erich Fromm

You Control Your Attitude      Jeff Keller

Dancing to Your Own Tune      T.W. Winslow

How Do You Handle a Bad Day?      Robert Taylor

Happiness      Bob Williams

How to Cheer Yourself up When You're Down      Colleen Moulding

How to Develop a Healthy Perspective      Jeff Keller

How to Get More out of Life      Unknown Author

I Can't      tom walsh

The "I Can't" Funeral      Author Unknown

The Key Attitude for Success      Asoka Selvarajah

Live on the Happy Side      Norman Vincent Peale

Preventing Pessimism      Nita Jackson

Put Joy in Your Life--You're Never Too Old!      Susana Bouquet

Shoveling Snow      tom walsh

Simple Pleasures      T.W. Winslow

Sowing and Reaping      Vic Johnson

Keep Track of Your Results      Jim Rohn
Seven Ways to Cultivate a Mental Attitude That Will Bring You Peace and Happiness      Dale Carnegie
Is Your Attitude Worth Catching?     Margo Chevers

  
There is so much about my fate that I cannot control, but other things
do fall under the jurisdiction.  I can decide how I spend my time, whom
I interact with, whom I share my body and life and money and energy
with.  I can select what I can read and eat and study.  I can choose how
I'm going to regard unfortunate circumstances in my life-whether I will
see them as curses or opportunities.  I can choose my words and the
tone of voice in which I speak to others.
And most of all, I can choose my thoughts.

Elizabeth Gilbert
 

Your attitude is the way you look at life.  It’s a judgment you hold--
consciously or subconsciously--about others, yourself, your
circumstances, and the world around you.  And it is the most
powerful tool you can use to craft a happy life.  It is, in fact,
essential to your happiness.  Your attitude--whether positive
or negative--affects the way you experience the world.

Deborah K. Heisz
Live Happy: Ten Practices for Choosing Joy

  

An attitude of positive expectation is the mark of the superior personality.

Brian Tracy

  

We have some inspiring and motivational books that may interest you.  Our main way of supporting this site is through the sale of books, either physical copies or digital copies for your Amazon Kindle (including the online reader).  All of the money that we earn through them comes back to the site in one way or another.  Just click on the picture to the left to visit our page of books, both fiction and non-fiction!

   
  

Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.

unattributed

  

A positive attitude is a person's passport to a better tomorrow.

unattributed

  

When you experience a negative circumstance or event, do not dwell
on it.  Be proactive--put your attention on what you need to do
to bring the situation to a positive result.

Rodolfo Costa
Advice My Parents Gave Me

  
God is always more interested in why we do something than in what
we do.  Attitudes count more than achievements.

Rick Warren
The Purpose Driven Life
  

        
  

Yes, life can be mysterious and confusing--but there's much of life that's actually rather dependable and reliable.  Some principles apply to life in so many different contexts that they can truly be called universal--and learning what they are and how to approach them and use them can teach us some of the most important lessons that we've ever learned.
My doctorate is in Teaching and Learning.  I use it a lot when I teach at school, but I also do my best to apply what I've learned to the life I'm living, and to observe how others live their lives.  What makes them happy or unhappy, stressed or peaceful, selfish or generous, compassionate or arrogant?  In this book, I've done my best to pass on to you what I've learned from people in my life, writers whose works I've read, and stories that I've heard.  Perhaps these principles can be a positive part of your life, too!
Universal Principles of Living Life Fully.  Awareness of these principles can explain a lot and take much of the frustration out of the lives we lead.