Good morning!! I’m sure many of you were wondering when this “Positive Attitude” title would appear in your inbox, as it was a lock to be included in any serious collection of thoughts that I would share. So today’s lesson involves positive attitude and I think it is a great one to start this week with. I know my messages are getting a little long, in truth they are a lot long, and I’m feeling that this trend will continue. So please do whatever you feel is best, but I do encourage you to read as I do feel that these are great lessons, and while I have learned them through the challenge of facing cancer, they apply to life and every aspect of it. Take care, have a great day and week!!
Positive Attitude
I firmly believe that no matter the situation, no matter your lot in life, no matter what road lies ahead, you are always best to possess a positive attitude. In my experience it can be one of your best friends when faced with a challenge, no matter the level of significance.
I have thought through this collection of thoughts that I will share in the months leading up to my Victory Party and I do intend to relate them as I share them. Today I plan to bring in most or all of the previous messages as they really do relate to today’s topic. I really feel that positive attitude can relate to most everything we could ever discuss.
I began this collection of messages talking about perspective and that’s where I’ll start today, as I feel you can use the terms positive attitude and positive perspective interchangeably a lot of times. And just as I feel it is a great practice to open your perspective, or see other people’s perspective, I feel it is a great practice to maintain a positive perspective or attitude. It will take work, sometimes more effort than others, but in my experience you will always be best off with your positive attitude at your inside.
I like to think of myself as a realistic optimist, which in my mind means I like to always be positive about life and it’s situations while remaining realistic about those situations. I’m not a fan of pretending or ignoring reality, and fortunately I am pretty good at seeing things from different perspectives, as I have the ability to see life objectively. I am grateful for that characteristic.
And just as I look at life from the reality perspective I also happen to believe that I can make most anything I dream a reality. I am a big believer in CAN, as opposed to Can’t. I wouldn’t have my perspective any other way than the present state of firmly believing that whatever my mind creates, whatever dream or goal I manufacture for myself, I can take that thought or concept and produce a reality. That internal state comes from my confidence in myself and the belief that I can create anything I want. If I want it enough, it will happen. I usually say, “Once you get the concept down, once your idea has a well-developed strategy, all that stands between you and success is work.” I have also read that “the only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.” Great thought.
I associate the word Positive with many others that relate to the thoughts being shared in this 3-month collection of messages, such as open, learning, love, progress, purpose/meaning. (I haven’t shared thoughts on all of these words yet, but will at some point soon) Perhaps the word that I associate most with positive is constructive, as I really feel when I am being positive I am also being constructive.
And it is being constructive that I wish to talk about. I have talked about learning, and a little about its place in our life, most notably my feelings that we are here in this life to learn. That is a major objective of life, and I personally feel the best way to learn from our experiences is to be constructive with them. If we group experiences into two categories, good and bad, I think it is safe to say that being positive/constructive with the “good” experiences is easier than with the “bad.” As a general rule, if we can make such a rule, I will say that in my experience every experience is enhanced when I am positive about it. Personally I have had some “bad” experiences that have been “exceptional” (good) experiences and a large part of that perspective is related to my positive nature. Adopting a positive constructive attitude has allowed me to view situations that many would call “bad” as truly exceptional experiences.
I would like to get specific for a brief moment here, as a very specific thought comes to mind when writing this. The most prominent example I can give you all of a bad experience that is actually an exceptional one is my cancer experience. Many people view cancer as a “bad” experience, and I can understand why that is. But I don’t. In my life cancer has been an “exceptional” experience, and I have maintained that perspective as best I could from the very beginning, and through the many ups and downs that have accompanied the arrival of cancer in my life. And I feel that I am better for having taken that positive constructive approach to this great challenge.
The other component of the positive constructive thought I want to share relates to the behaviour or the doing part. Just as I look at opening yourself having two parts, the sending and receiving, I look at the positive attitude having two parts as well: the inside positive and the outside positive. The inside is that part which I would call the attitude, the intangible stuff like your thoughts and feelings, your perspective and views on life and the many things within it. While I would consider the outside positive as the things that happen as a result of putting our positive attitude into action, and I really believe that the transition of the positive attitude from the inside to the outside is entirely within our control.
Creating our own positive or exceptional experiences is within our control, it happens within us. We cannot control much of what happens in the outside world, what we do have control over is our reaction to what happens in the outside world. A given experience that I have playfully classified as “good” or “bad” is really a neutral experience until someone puts a perspective on it. And I firmly believe that we can choose. It is within us to see most everything in life as a positive, constructive, good or even exceptional experience. I can tell you that when you begin to make this transition and see things in life from a more positive perspective, when you begin to make the effort that is required, all your experiences — and thus your life — become enhanced.
I’m sure you will remember that I feel we CAN do anything we dream, and I know if we maintain a positive constructive perspective of life, and see the opportunity within each and every day, we CAN take those positive thoughts and feelings, turn them into positive action and make a positive impact on the lives and environments of others.
In my 25 years, I’ve never had a more exceptional experience than that of bringing my positive attitude to a situation and then sharing that attitude with the outside world.
Positive Attitude
I firmly believe that no matter the situation, no matter your lot in life, no matter what road lies ahead, you are always best to possess a positive attitude. In my experience it can be one of your best friends when faced with a challenge, no matter the level of significance.
I have thought through this collection of thoughts that I will share in the months leading up to my Victory Party and I do intend to relate them as I share them. Today I plan to bring in most or all of the previous messages as they really do relate to today’s topic. I really feel that positive attitude can relate to most everything we could ever discuss.
I began this collection of messages talking about perspective and that’s where I’ll start today, as I feel you can use the terms positive attitude and positive perspective inter-changeably a lot of times. And just as I feel it is a great practice to open your perspective, or see other people’s perspective, I feel it is a great practice to maintain a positive perspective or attitude. It will take work, sometimes more effort than others, but in my experience you will always be best off with your positive attitude at your inside.
I like to think of myself as a realistic optimist, which I’m my mind means I like to always be positive about life and its situations while remaining realistic about those situations. I’m not a fan of pretending or ignoring reality, and fortunately I am pretty good at seeing things from different perspectives, as I have the ability to see life objectively. I am grateful for that characteristic.
And just as I look at life from the reality perspective I also happen to believe that I can make most anything I dream a reality. I am a big believer in CAN, as opposed to Can’t. I wouldn’t have my perspective any other way than the present state of firmly believing that whatever my mind creates, whatever dream, or goal I manufacture for myself, I can take that thought/concept and produce a reality. That internal state comes from my confidence in myself and the belief that I can create anything I want. If I want it enough, it will happen. I usually say “once you get the concept down, once your idea has a well developed strategy, all that stands between you and success is work.” I have also read that “The only place where success comes before work, is in the dictionary.” Great thought.
I associate the word positive with many others that relate to the thoughts being shared in this 3-month collection of messages, such as open, learning, love, progress, purpose/meaning. (I haven’t shared thoughts on all of these words yet, but will at some point soon) Perhaps the word that I associate most with Positive is Constructive, as I really feel when I am being Positive I am also being Constructive.
And it is constructive that I wish to talk about. I have talked about learning, and a little about its place in our life, most notably my feelings that we are here in this life to learn. That is a major objective of life, and I personally feel the best way to learn from our experiences is to be constructive with them. If we group experiences into two categories, good and bad, I think it is safe to say that being positive/constructive with the “good” experiences is easier than with the “bad.” As a general rule, if we can make such a rule, I will say that in my experience every experience is enhanced when I am positive about it. Personally I have had some “bad” experiences that have been “exceptional”(good) experiences and a large part of that perspective is related to my Positive nature. Adopting a positive constructive attitude has allowed me to view situations that many would call “bad” as truly “exceptional” experiences.
I would like to get specific for a brief moment here, as a very specific thought comes to mind when writing this. The most prominent example I can give you all of a “bad” experience that is actually an “exceptional” one, is my Cancer experience. Many people view Cancer as a “bad” experience, and I can understand why that is. But I don’t. In my life Cancer has been an “exceptional” experience, and I have maintained that perspective as best I could from the very beginning, and through the many ups and downs that have accompanied the arrival of Cancer in my life. And I feel that I am better for having taken that Positive Constructive approach to this great Challenge.
The other component of the positive constructive thought I want to share relates to the behaviour or the doing part. Just as I look at opening yourself having two parts, the sending and receiving, I look at the positive attitude having two parts as well: the inside positive and the outside positive. The inside is that part which I would call the attitude, the intangible stuff like your thoughts and feelings, your perspective and views on life and the many things within it. While I would consider the outside positive as the things that happen as a result of putting our positive attitude into action, and I really believe that the transition of the positive attitude from the inside to the outside is entirely within our control.
Creating our own positive or exceptional experiences is within our control, it happens within us. We can not control much of what happens in the outside world, what we do have control over is our reaction to what happens in the outside world. A given experience that I have playfully classified as “good” or “bad” is really a neutral experience until someone puts a perspective on it. And I firmly believe that we can choose. It is within us to see most everything in life as a positive, constructive, good or even exceptional experience. I can tell you that when you begin to make this transition and see things in life from a more positive perspective, when you begin to make the effort that is required, all your experiences — and thus your — life become enhanced.
I’m sure you will remember that I feel we CAN do anything we dream, and I know if we maintain a positive constructive perspective of life, and see the opportunity within each and every day, we CAN take those positive thoughts and feelings, turn them into positive action and make a positive impact on the lives and environments of others.
In my 25 years, I’ve never had a more “exceptional” experience than that of bringing my positive attitude to a situation and then sharing that attitude with the outside world.
Always…
Live Life. Love Life.
Geoff
