I'm always touting positivity. You know what? We need to know some things about
negativity too. What are the disadvantages to a negative attitude? We
talk a lot about positivity. Having a positive attitude makes a huge
difference. A negative attitude, well that has an impact too. Let's talk about
attitude first as a little different kind of a concept.
This idea was shared with me by my friend Mike Schlappi who wrote this book
"Shot Happens". Mike was actually shot in the chest when he was 14 years old that
left him paraplegic and he speaks a lot about attitude. Mike has a little
different take on attitude than I've heard from other speakers or presenters.
He learned about this from an airline pilot okay? And if you're an aviator
maybe you can relate to this. As Mike was interviewing this particular pilot, he
found out that one of the most important instruments in the cockpit, is the
attitude indicator not altitude. You think altitude when you think aviation
right? Attitude not altitude. What is the attitude of an airplane? An attitude
refers to the position of that plane relative to the ground or the horizon.
The position. A lot of times we think about attitude is how we feel. In this
conversation today attitude is not how you feel. It's your position. Now can you
see in aviation that a nose-down attitude is having us into the hard
stuff? Whereas, a nose up attitude is going to give us, altitude. So how does
that relate to psychology? Let's go back to the primary model that I've shared
with you the very first video that we launched on a daily
basis here at Live on Purpose TV. You can link to it right up there had to do with
how to stay positive no matter what and I shared with you this model. Evaluation
and creation are two processes that are constantly going on in our mind. And as
you look at this model, you'll see that in the evaluation side as we compare
what it is to something worse than what it is, we feel better. As we compare what
we've got to something better we feel worse.
That's evaluation. In creation mode, we imagine we use this powerful tool of our
imagination to come up with something that we can create and as we imagine
that things are going to get worse for us, we feel worse. That's on the top half
of this diagram. As we imagine that what's coming is better than what we've
already got, we feel better. That's for a whole review of that. Go look at that
other video. But as a quick review, our position matters. So let's go back to the
attitude conversation for a minute. It is what it is. I know that's kind of
annoying to hear. Depends on who's saying it and why. But all it means is the way
things are right now. Now, is it good or is it bad? Notice that you are taking a
position about that. Your position is your attitude. You are never wrong about
how you feel. How you feel is 100% consistent with the way your own mind is
doing this process. Your position is your attitude. So what if I take an attitude
or a position that what I have is bad. This is terrible.
"My life sucks!" it's a position. It's an opinion
right? Let's go to this next slide and take a look at what effect that's going
to have. When you start with a negative evaluation that's on the bottom side of
the graph and you say that this is bad and notice that's just a position you're
taking it's your attitude, how likely are you from this position to go do
something productive? Yeah. Not so much. Think about it. When you're feeling
depressed, inadequate, not good enough, failed, defeated, flawed. Like your life is
terrible. How likely are you to go do something productive and healthy? Not so
much you are more likely to make a mess. And folks, we have the ability to make a
mess don't we? Yes, that's pretty good news actually. Because if you've got the
power to make a mess, what else might you have the power to make? All it means is
you've got some creation power. Let's harness that and use it well. One of the
biggest downfalls of a negative attitude is that it sets us up for negative
cand just check your own experience about this. This is when
people come home and they kick the dog and yell at the spouse. It's not helping.
You're probably making things worse you think? Yeah. conversely, if we start from a
positive place in our evaluation mode. Okay? So you take whatever it is in your
life. Can you get to a position or an attitude that this is good. That I am
richly and abundantly blessed. What if you can get to that place? Okay, first of
all, you're going to feel different aren't you?
So as you look at this bottom green arrow, that's how you feel when you make
a positive evaluation of what it is. When your attitude or your position is that
this is good. The way it is right now without changing anything. That's a
little hard to do if you've been practicing the opposite thought. That
this is bad, it's terrible, it's horrible. "Oh my gosh, look at how terrible my life
is." if you've been practicing that you're probably pretty good at it.
So when I invite you to take a different attitude or position about that, it might
not feel normal at first. This is good and folks, there are all kinds of arguments
that your situation right now the way it is, is good. Now, if you want to
debate about that, you can make a comment down below or something, we can have that
conversation. But just consider that for a minute. Because when you start from
that positive energy, that this is good. You just created currency that you get
to take to the creation game. Meaning the energy you generate here will carry
through and allow you to go create something even better. And you know that
this is true. Just think of your own feelings when you're feeling grateful.
Grateful and happy and satisfied with your life. How likely are you to go do
something productive? Yeah do you see? This is how we power it up. Let's go back
to that idea of currency for just a minute. I remember a story shared by
Wayne Dyer about mental currency. So as you look at this United States currency,
this money, what do we use it for? Well, we go trade it for stuff right? Let's say
that I gave you a million bucks, okay? You like this game so far? And you take your
bushel of money and you go down to the mall and you can buy anything that you
want. You go into the first store they're selling trees. Plastic trees. You're like,
"hmm... didn't really need a plastic tree but I'll take a look." So you
start looking around. You find one that is particularly disgusting.
It's gross. It's hideous. It's like who would ever want that in their house? You
go grab the tree. You dragged it up front. You slam it down in front of the clerk.
What's the deal with the tree? Who would ever want this in their house? You look
at the price tag it's $30,000. You're like, "who would ever pay that for this
tree?" You pull $30,000 out of your pocket, give
it to the clerk, send it to my house, you say. Then you leave mad. You didn't want
the tree. I know weird story huh? Stay with me. You go to the next store. They're
selling pots. Probably for the trees. I don't know. So that you can put those at
the bottom and and these are gross and disgusting too. You don't like these any
more than you like the trees. And you find one that's particularly hideous, you
look at the price tag it says $10,000. You're like, "what?!
who would ever pay 10 grand for this ugly pot?" You drag it up to the front,
slam it down on the counter, "what's up with this who would ever want this you
pull $10,000 out of your pocket, give it to the clerk, send it to
my house! Gosh! this is not going well." What is
wrong with this story? And then you go home and what do you feel your house all
filled up with? All this crap that you don't want. Where did it come from?
You bought it. Remember we're talking about thoughts here. We're talking about
attitude. So forget about money for just a minute. What are you purchasing with
the currency of your thoughts, your attitude? And if you find your house all
filled up, your life all filled up with this stuff you don't want, pay attention
to where it's coming from. How are you spending your precious life energy? Your
thoughts, your attitude. I hope you're enjoying these videos. I'm enjoying these
videos because they get to interact with you.
I'll see you tomorrow.