Do you have an attitude? Do you go about your day sour, out of sorts, angry or irritated a fair amount of the time? Are you sharp, cutting or sarcastic? Burned out, tired or quick to the trigger a lot? Willing to believe the worst about others? Mistrusting or cynical? Are you often resentful, argumentative, critical, demanding or hostile?
If so, you have an attitude.
But it’s now New Year’s. Time to decide what you’d like to change about your life for the coming year.
Perhaps you would consider cleaning up your attitude?
Here’s what a positive attitude requires from you:
- Deciding what your goals are then doing everything you can to make them come true.
- Looking toward the future with hope and optimism.
- Paying attention to the attitudes and emotions that can sabotage, defeat you or turn you sour, such as lashing out at the people you care about (and who care about you), letting fear get the better of you, permitting yourself to feel defeated and giving up on your dreams.
- Taking life’s ups and downs in stride. Keeping your eyes on the big picture and not letting every disappointment or setback defeat your spirit.
- Making sure you never forget that the most important thing in life is about the quality of your relationships with those you care about—and to do everything you can to keep those relationships reciprocal, alive, vital, close and connected.
- Empathy and compassion: seeing things from another person’s perspective, not just your own. Being sensitive to how your words, actions and behaviors impact others and their feelings. Being able to stand inside someone else’s experience and emotions with a desire to understand why they feel as they do.
- Having an attitude of gratitude and thanksgiving about what you have, what you’ve accomplished, what you are and what you’re becoming.
- Making sure you don’t get self-destructive—or destructive to others.
- Living upright, with honor and integrity. Being consistently kind, honest and decent. Consistently doing the right thing.
- Keeping yourself physically active, vital and fit.
- Reaching out to others. Extending a welcoming hand rather than feeling sorry for yourself that others aren’t reaching out to you.
- Focusing on what you’re trying to create and what you have to look forward to—not what has hurt or disappointed you. Keeping your outlook half full rather than half empty.
- Being open-hearted, open to new possibilities and new people in your life, receptive to new ways of looking at things and new experiences. Always being receptive to expanding who you are, your knowledge and skills and your self-image.
No one’s attitude will be completely positive and optimistic all the time. Real things happen to people that cause pain, hurt, anguish, anxiety and fear. But keeping your attitude positive will dramatically increase your chances for greater levels of happiness and contentment, not to mention greater peace of mind.
It is easier to get older than it is to get wiser. Choose to be wiser.
