Attitude is Everywhere

“The greatest discovery of any generation is that a human being
can alter his life by altering his attitude.” -William James

Many of you reading this know me because you have heard me ranting, I mean speaking, about the importance of attitude. In the last three years, I have done more programs on attitude then all my other topics combined, which tells me that managing our attitudes is more important now than ever. For several weeks, I collected a sampling of headlines from newspapers, magazines, and blogs that reference attitude just to see how the rest of the world views the impact of attitude on life. The results were surprising, even to me, covering everything thing from sports teams to the economy as you can see below:
-Success in life may depend on your ‘attitudes’
-A Positive Attitude Can Go a Long Way After a Layoff
-On the brighter side: Can Attitude affect economy, health?
-How to Deal With an Employee With an Attitude
-The Attitude That Will Save Your Job
-Attitudes That We Can Do Without
-Old age is about mental attitude and spirit
-Change your body language, attitude

Even more eye opening was realizing it is a worldwide problem from the USA to Malaysia, Russia, India, and Australia, meaning we are all in this together. Certainly, the economic slow down and recession has had an impact on people’s attitudes but then I wonder how our attitudes of the past influenced the onset of our current economic condition? We are a global community and what we do and the attitudes we have can eventually affect someone half way around the world.

As individuals, we can only be responsible for our own attitude, but what a source of power that attitude can be for those around us! How many of us have started out the day in neutral, meaning it can go up or down, and encountered something or someone that tipped our attitude toward the negative? It might be congested traffic, bad service, rolling of the eyes, forgotten appointment, or the rainy weather that flipped our internal switch. Nevertheless, we can usually pinpoint what made the difference. Often we might be the negative force, (who me?), that pushes a family worker, co-worker, or fellow commuter to the dark side of attitude! So what do we do about it?

Day in and day out there will be experiences that frustrate us and leave a lot to be desired. You can make a difference in your day by choosing to be aware and personally responsible for your own attitude at all times. Taking control of your attitude is the best way to influence the attitude of others and involves desire, practice, the courage to feel uncomfortable until you get it right, and focusing on
the moment at hand rather than getting caught up in mistakes of the past or perceived problems of the future. It is not easy and I know from experience some days it is very hard to keep my rotten attitude to myself, and I am an attitude expert! If you must have a bad attitude then please go into your personal cave and inflict as little pain as possible on those around you.

If you have any question that attitude plays an important role in the quality of life, consider the words of this young girl who faced obstacles far worse than our struggles:

“Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you do not know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! Moreover, what your potential is! How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world... The final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.” -Anne Frank

How Full is Your Well?

No, not a well that holds water, I'm referring to your 'Creative Well". While I believe all of us can be creative in our own chosen fields of interest and daily life, that doesn’t mean we are always our creative best. Let’s face it, some days I have great ideas and just can’t get them down on paper fast enough and other days I need a cup of coffee or a diet Coke before the cobwebs clear enough for me to focus. Other days I am productive in many ways and can accomplish a lot but am not very creative. I have come to accept this ebb and flow and learned that there are things I can do to replenish my creativity and bring myself back. These are simple, fun, sometimes off the wall ideas that can rejuvenate you, add spark to your day and help you be your best. What works doesn’t have to be hard, it just has to work.

My top five:
1. Going for a drive: I know gas isn’t cheap and this may not be feasible for you, but because I travel to do what I do, it works for me. If I have a problem to solve or an idea that has been incubating in my brain, I can count on several hours of alone time in my car, watching the countryside go by, to come up with my best ideas. The hardest part is remembering them when I get out of the car. I’ve tried a small voice recorder in my car, calling myself and leaving a voice mail message, writing clues for myself on scraps of paper while I’m driving and pulling over at an exit to get those thoughts on paper before they are lost. If you have a better way of capturing creative thoughts while driving, I’m open for suggestions!

2. Quiet, alone time: Those close to me have heard me say this over and over till they are probably tired of hearing it. I need a certain amount of quiet time alone to feel balanced and creative. That was easy to accomplish when I was younger and single. However as a wife, mother, daughter of an aging parent, speaker and artist, it has become harder to come by. I have learned to steal snatches of quiet here and there and keep reminding myself that someday it will be quieter and I probably won’t like it!

3. Piddling: Piddling occurs when you have no huge goals, particular purpose or timelines looming and you allow yourself to do a little bit of this and a little bit of that. It can be done in your own home, it can be done while you’re shopping, or it can be done at work if you can get away with it. Piddling can be very productive and almost yoga like for me. I seem to get a certain far off look in my eye when I am pondering and piddling that scares my husband because he knows when I’m really thinking, something is about to change!

4. Exercise: Not complicated; running, walking, aerobic classes, dancing, swimming, walking your dog, whatever you like and will do on a regular basis works. It helps you physically and revives you mentally. Shake it up and change your routine to keep it fresh and keep yourself interested. I get inspired differently when I do different activities.

5. Quotes & Inspiring Articles: I love to meander through motivational books of quotes or short essays that reinforce my priorities. I am a firm believer of keeping several resources around that I can easily grab for motivation and inspiration. Some I recommend are:
-The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
-The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
-The Change-Your-Life Quote Book by Allen Klein
-www.quotationspage.com
-www.brainyquotes.com

More Ways to Refill Your Well:
-Take a shower-great for creative thinking and attitude lifting.
-Take time to doodle
-Take your watch off and lose track of time
-Use crayons, color pencils or colored markers for your to do lists, rough drafts, etc. to shake it up.
-Observe and play with pets or other animals
-Hang around young children-play with them, listen to them, do an activity with them. They are always original.
-Browse a bookstore or library
-Cooking-A creative outlet in itself, can be very freeing and allows for experimentation.
-Listen to music of your choice.

Walnuts, leaves, and apples, Oh My!

I don't need a calendar to tell me that Fall has arrived. I can tell by the walnuts, leaves and apples that sprinkle my yard, deck and driveway turning them into obstacle courses. It seems no matter how hard we try we cannot keep up with the pace of nature as it deposits it's wares. Sure it can all be a pain, but autumn has always been my favorite season. I like the winding down of outdoor activities and chores as we begin to focus more on the inside. And, growing up on the farm, it always signaled a time of harvesting and gathering what you have grown and produced. I still can't help but feel I need to be using every last tomato, apple and squash before the first freeze.

It can also be a time of reflection and introspection as we hopefully have more time for reading, thinking and creating in the months ahead. This month in my e-newsletter I shared the fact that our two large walnut trees result in surprise bombs that can hit us at anytime as we cross the yard; much like life hits us with unexpected circumstances and challenges. Sometimes we can dodge the bad stuff that tries to get in our way, but sooner or later we get hit. We always have a choice, deal with it the best we can, bury our head in the sand or bring confidence and power to our life by marching on with a great attitude to boot! My choice today is focus on the upside and before you know it it will become automatic. Hmmmm, that might involve making an apple crisp so apples don't go to waste!