Day 19:
I never realized when I was younger how much I allowed for outside influences to control whether I was having a good day or not. It has only been the last few years that I choose my attitude. Yes, most days I choose to have a good one, but every once in awhile, by gosh, I choose to not have a good one. It is those days when I am aware that I am behaving in a morose type manner that I have chosen to allow myself to be that way.
But if you choose that too many days, you will enter depression. So choose wisely, and as I said, most days I choose to be happy, joyful, and positive...most days. One of the things that got me to be proactive in dealing with my attitude was a book I read about 5-7 years ago called Fish!
Fish! is about a woman who is put in charge of a bad segment of her company, a segment where good people go to wallow in misery and she is attempting to change that. She visits a local fish store during lunch where the workers there seems to never have a bad day. And she compares their attitudes to those that are in her office.
The bottom line, you must be proactive in choosing your attitude. From the moment you get up to the issues that you encounter as the day begins and even as you go throughout the day. If you allow for things or people to ruin your attitude or day, you are choosing to allow it. I never have understood why people say "this was a terrible day", or "I've had a terrible morning". Ok, why and what next?
It can always be worse, always, and you can always do something to make things better. One morning, my son was not behaving at all, and after I tried speaking with him, reasoning with him and then ultimately warning him, I finally snapped and yelled at him pretty good. It ruined my morning. So I went to his school as soon as I could, pulled him out of class, gave him a hug and explained how his behavior made me get upset which wasn't good for either of us.
After a few tears and some more hugs and kisses, it allowed my day which had started off awful, to become better. We spoke again that night and did not have a bad morning for well, a couple days anyway. It seems it is always one or the other that gets the day started off with some tension, but that's another post.
Challenge; Choose your attitude today. If the day has started off in a negative way, do something to fix it. Listen to music, pray, meditate, apologize, avoid the issue for some time, or go to your child's school and hug them and tell them you love them.
