Keeping a Positive Attitude

Do you remember the Pattie Labelle song --  " New Attitude" (I remembered it from Miss Congeniality).  As I start this post the lyrics are running in my head and I can't help but laugh at why this song has popped in my head.  In case you don't remember it, let me give you a few of the lyrics:

I'm feelin' good from my head to my shoes
Know where I'm goin' and I know what to do
I tidied up my point of view
I got a new attitude
I'm in control, my worries are few
'Cause I've got love like I never knew
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
I got a new attitude

We all deal with people on a daily basis that just have a BAD attitude.   I mean they are the constant Debbie Downers and nothing ever seems to cheer them up.   Their face needs botox just to get the permanent frown turned upside down!

A few years ago I was stressed out over just the daily depressive state of those around me.   My co-workers were in stages of divorces, my boss was embarking on a stressful new venture,  my own husband was overworked  and every client that came to the law firm I worked at owed the IRS a lot of money.  Needless to say, I was surrounded by NEGATIVITY all the time.

One morning on my way to work I just decided that I was NOT going to be that way --- Nor were my kids!   They were in the 2nd, 4th and 5th grade at the time and just starting the "whining" about how life was not fair with homework, chores and etc.   We established a new rule that day that got us out of elementary school into the high school years.

If you have something negative to say about your day you must be ready to tell me 5 positive things FIRST.   If not, I don't want to hear it.

This turned our daily car rides and life to be much more of an enjoyable experience.  Most the time by the time the kids finished their 5 positive things they had forgotten their negative thing they wanted to tell me.  It was a refocus for them (and me) to spend more time concentrating on that which is good in life rather than bad.   Luckily, this attitude adjustment has served us well.   

Sure, we still forget and have to remind ourselves to focus on the positives first.  It is almost natural that when life gets hectic, out of control or not in sync with one another that you get away from the basic concept but it does always find a way of sinking back in.

Have you ever tried something similar to keep your life focused on the positives?   If so, isn't it funny just how many sour-pusses you get to smile?     

I hope the next time you are confronted with an angry person you just adorn a great big smile on your face and become extra peppy!  Even if they don't feel better, you will!