Yesterday, a friend borrowed my car. And I got to thinking how we could do more than borrow someone’s car, we could buy it, and we could even could borrow their clothes, or some money or even steal it…not that we would…steal I mean. But we could do all these things.
One thing we can’t beg, borrow or steal from someone else is their attitude. The only way to acquire an attitude is to develop it. To choose it. And since our attitudes form the direction in which our life travels, we really need to make sure they’re taking us in the direction we want to go. And yes, I’m speaking from experience. Some of my past attitudes have been the cause of miserable experiences. My mantra became, never keep going to where you don’t want to end up, never keep going where you don’t want to end up. I didn’t always listen.
If we want to change direction as we’re driving our car, we turn the wheel…if you’re thinking I wish it were that easy to switch attitudes…it sort of is.
If you were to drive from Los Angeles to New York City, in a straight line…and turned the steering wheel just a teeny bit, a quarter of an inch maybe, you might end up in Atlanta, Georgia. I’m sure it’s a lovely place, but if we wanted to get to New York City then Atlanta isn’t the place we want to be.
There are times when our attitudes keep directing us to places we most definitely don’t want to be, and yet, the smallest tweak, the teeniest improvement could put us back on the straight and narrow, heading precisely to where we had decided to go. But there we are, hands stuck on the wheel, hurtling towards some place that we know will only bring us pain and heartache or anger and upset. All because we don’t know that just a tiny tweak will make all the difference. Or we think it’s just too darn hard.
We get overwhelmed by the distance between where we are and where we want to be. It seems impossible to move ourselves from here to there. The gulf is too huge, so we stand on the edge, wondering, wishing, hoping.
Yet, all we need is the awareness that we can. We can stand a step above where we now are; we can reach a higher level of living simply by a change of attitude. There’s no problem that we can’t resolve by a shift in our consciousness. We don’t have to use pressure, we don’t have to pull strings, we don’t need anyone to help us. All we have to do is change our attitude. Just a bit. Our attitudes make all the difference to how we view life, to how we react to situations, to every experience and event we encounter in our life.
Just a small tweak and improvement in our attitude can dramatically change were we end up next year, or five years from now. And just imagine where it’ll take us in a lifetime.
We’re forever surrounding ourselves with the true image of ourself and what we are. As we observe our reactions to life we can see what our attitudes are and where the tweaks need to take place.
Resolve only to hear what’s good about you and and others. Choose to look on the bright side of life. Don’t get mad, get even…just kidding. Getting even is what get’s us into our messes in the first place. Look for what’s good in a situation…and if it’s hard to find…just choose that something wonderful has to happen, because that’s how life works for you. It doesn’t have to be true right now, but it’ll become true as you persist.
Be the optimist, not the pessimist. Stop expecting things not to work out. Stop talking about how hard things are, imagine instead that things fall into place for you, that life is really easy if you just flow and let go of needing to control everything. Relax. Breathe.
If you adopt the attitude that everything that you place in your mind contributes to a wonderful life then you’ll enjoy living life at a higher level. This is the level of creation. When you change your attitude and keep it fixed, your outer world will reflect your change.
And I say if this is what it takes to have the best life experience possible, why on earth wouldn’t it be our priority?
Tweak your attitude and watch what happens.
Encourage one another.
Love Elle.
xoxo
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13 Comments
You know, Elle, when you mentioned “maintenance” I was eagerly waiting to see the new look. Looks wonderful. I just realized I had never visited your home page before, so don’t know if the preview of the posts were there. 🙂 I always type the URL in the browser (how crazy could I get?)
I wear a smile and pink glasses mentally. 🙂 But to see better, I wear black framed glasses, only because that goes better with everything else!
Hugs! Great to see you back.
Oh Vidya, I too usually head over to the post and bypass the home page. Now you’ve got me curious and I’m going to check them all out! Katrina has done a wonderful job on the blog…she’s amazingly creative and able to mix her skills with her clients desires in a superb way. I’m very happy with the outcome. The archives page blew me away when I first saw it. 🙂
Love your pink mental glasses idea, it’s a great way to view the world. 🙂
Absolutely LOVE this post!! (I will leave it at that.)
Elle….you’re so terrific with metaphors. I love the comparison with driving the car in the right direction. You are 100% correct about tweaking our attitude. The key is to catch yourself when you begin to head in a negative direction. You continue to remind us to stay alert and keep our navigational tool handy. xxoo-Fran
And you are so kind Fran, and you are absolutely right, it’s all about awareness, which is yet another practice. 🙂
I can soooo identify with this. I used to think that there was no way to change my attitude in the moment. Until I tried it. It’s so easy. I say to myself, “I’m not liking feeling like this. How do I want to feel?” And I smile and everything changes.
Lately I’ve started noticing how tight and bunched up parts of my body are all the time (tight, furrowed brow; hunched, tense shoulders; general tightness everywhere). My body has been reinforcing a subconscious thought that things are hard. Moment to moment I’ve been consciously relaxing every part of my body, especially when I’m walking. As I relax I feel energy flow through me and I say, “I’m so ready for everything to be easy.” with the expectation that it already is. I had just chosen to see it differently before.
This is great information that we all need to be reminded of. Thanks Elle!
Big Hugs!!
I know exactly what you mean Paige. Our body is such a filter for our emotions – I can relate to the tight shoulders, up to my ears! I love your affirmation ready for it all to be easy. I may pinch that for myself. 🙂
Thanks for sharing your ideas and experience. However, in some cases you must drive in a direction where you don’t want to reach. There are still lots of people who cares about the happiness of others.
Welcome Deepak, it’s great to have your point of view. Obviously, I’m not certain exactly what you have in mind, but I think that caring about the happiness of other doesn’t mean you’re heading in a direction you don’t want to go…in fact quite the opposite. 🙂
I am tweaking as we speak Elle…thanks for this.
Jonathan
Thanks Jonathan, welcome to the tweaking club. Personally, I need to tweak fairly regularly if I’m to end up where I want to go! But I’m assuming I’ll need less and less tweaks as I go along. 🙂
Wow!!! Elle, you wrote this just for me, didn’t you? Come on now, fess up. Tell the truth. You wrote just for me. How did you know I needed to read these exact words? You are amazing!
Of course I did Brian, I’m reading your mind, that’s how I do it. 🙂 Or maybe it’s just that we’re both on the same page…yeah that’s more likely!