5 Steps to a More Positive Attitude
Did you know people with a positive attitude have a special ability?
We’ve all heard of the “downward spiral,” that slippery slope many fall prey to when crisis comes and their ability to deal with whatever life throws their way goes out the window. It seems people who maintain a positive attitude have learned a special power to create an “upward spiral.”
Barbara Fredrickson, a positive psychology researcher at the University of North Carolina, suggests that positive emotions have the uncanny ability to “create improved psychological and physical well-being over time.”
It’s exactly what the Bible teaches!
A cheerful disposition is good for your health; gloom and doom leave you bone-tired. Proverbs 17:22 MSG
So when you notice you’re heading toward a downward spiral, remember, the upward spiral is possible. When you’re feeling down, look up!
Here are five tips to help you find your positive attitude and improve your “attitude aptitude.”
1.) Input Equals Output
The loudest and most influential voice you hear is your own inner voice. When you talk to yourself, what are you saying? What are you reading, watching, listening to? Is it primarily positive or negative? If you aren’t balanced or slightly on the positive side, weed out the things that aren’t helpful to you. In the end, they aren’t worth the sacrifice.
Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. Proverbs 4:23 NLT
2.) Apathy Creates Atrophy
Apathy is the enemy of fulfillment. If you are apathetic about something, narrow down the “why” behind it. Are you feeling overwhelmed, underappreciated or unmotivated? What are the negative thoughts that are feeding those feelings? What would help? What are the opposite thoughts and feelings that could actually create upward traction and success? Think on those things!
… whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Phillipians 4:8 NIV
3.) Positive Speech is Powerful
Words have power. The tongue holds the power of life and death. Don’t let it bring death to your mind. Let your inner voice bring you life.
Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit—you choose. Proverbs 18:21 MSG
4.) Believe the Best
Instead of believing, “Everyone hates me, I stink, I can’t do anything right, I’ll never change,” start believing the exact opposite. Tell yourself, “God created me. I’m His handiwork. I got this!” It sounds corny, but it really does help. Do it until it becomes second nature. Then, positivity will start flowing out of you, and your countenance will eventually change.
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10 NIV
5.) Strength is Born From Struggle
Everyone has struggles. Just because you encounter a positive person doesn’t mean that person hasn’t had life happen. Know this. If you are looking from the outside at someone else’s life, feeling discouraged because they seem to have it all together—it’s not true. No one has it all together. Everyone has struggles. But you can learn to keep sending your mind on an upward spiral, no matter what happens around you or to you.
We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. Romans 5:3-5 NLT
Remember, the difference between someone who is negative and someone who is positive is not necessarily what they’ve been through, it’s how they’ve learned and chosen to respond.
Want more help staying positive? www.thebridgechurch.us
