It almost goes without saying, but when I'm grumpy I have a bad attitude. What this tells me is that my attitude - which can be fairly easily ascertained by my facial expression and body language - is simply an external representation of my internal feelings.
If I'm feeling down, my body sags. Doesn't yours?
Now it's not any secret that the answer to a bad attitude is a good laugh, a smile, and pleasant thoughts. Why? Because you can't genuinely laugh and smile without a corresponding good feeling. Our feelings have a direct impact on our outward demeanor.
The challenge is controlling our feelings. Here's the principle: Change our feelings, change our attitude!
Good news is that we can control our feelings. We're not at the mercy of our emotional life. Emotions (the well from which our feelings arise) serve as a barometer of what's going on inside of us.
And we can change what's going on inside. How? By monitoring our thoughts. Our thoughts affect our feelings which in turn shows up in our attitude.
I've found that the best way to monitor our thoughts is by listening to our self-talk. In other words, we need to think about our thinking.
This might be a true difference between humankind and the animal kingdom. We have the ability to consider our thought process and not just react by instinct (which seems more emotional in nature, doesn't it?)
Therefore, since we can control our thoughts, we have the ability to influence our feelings and thus change our attitude. That is good news indeed!
9 comments:
It certainly is true that you can control your feelings...it's just hard (for me anyway) to do when I've let myself get too far down the spiral. The trick is to catch yourself before, or just as you enter the spiral and jump out of it with a reassessment of what pulled you in, in the first place. It takes daily training to catch those nasty little thoughts as they float by and toss them out before they become toxic.
Randy, Thanks for your comment. You hit the nail on the head when it comes to the discipline part of controlling our thoughts - feelings - attitudes. And the truth is sometimes we spiral down so much that we may not be able to control our thinking. That's when counseling, medication, and other interventions might be necessary. That's why a good support group is a great thing as well. Ah, so much to say. :-) Thanks again, Lyn from Thought Renewal
Well said. May I ad my saying: What your focused on, you get more of:-)
Exercise always seems to raise your spirit and attitude. :)
Very true. I am actually pretty happy and "bubbly" by nature, but anyone can get trapped by focusing on the negative now and again.
My husband suffers from depression, so it is not so easy for him to just stop thinking on these things and reflect instead on the positive. It is interesting to watch sometimes. We see the same story and I see the grace of God and he sees only the negative. There are so many things we do unwittingly to keep ourselves where we are at emotionally.
Wow! Your blog is well done and refreshing to the soul. Keep up the good work!!!!
Equipper
http://equippersnetwork.blogspot.com
Nice thoughts...this is what i believe..Get a strong enthusiasm for that which you want in your life, a real longing for something which is not there now....
yeah we have all the power to control our emotions because we are it's owner not other people. I agree that thoughts some affect our feelings.
Vision board
This Is exactly correct. The Human brain Is very complex. I for one thought I had OCD. When really all It Is, Is the fact that I let my feelings take control. As much as I cannot help to obsess over a thought I now know with progress I can over come the obsession. Feelings are acted upon by an Equation of what we see plus what we want to think. But It can be difficult to be happy If you are a depressive person. I'm still learning how to control my feelings so that I can stop myself from thinking even the most worst of things. Very good blog well done.
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