Excerpts from "Orchestrating Attitude"

Here's some good stuff from a great little booklet by Lee J. Colan called "Orchestrating Attitude":

    "Everything can be taken from a person but one thing: the last of human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."  - Viktor E. Frankl, Psychologist and Holocaust Survivor

...even in the worst situations - a victim of a natural disaster, prisoner of war, target of abuse or when hit by a string of unfortunate circumstances - your attitude is something you can always control!

...a landmark study shed light on the ultimate benefit of a positive attitude...participants who were more positive lived an average of 10 years longer than other participants.

Our attitude is our personal boomerang to the world - whatever we throw out will come back to us.

...we rarely make neutral choices. Each choice has a positive or negative consequence for us at some level.

...I like to write the word "responsibility" as response-ability. As humans we have the unique ability to respond.

When you simply react, your emotional instinct is in control with little thought of the long-range conseqences. When you respond, your brain is fully engaged and your self-awareness is high. You have the long-term consequences in mind.

Thoughts...directly influence our beliefs.
Beliefs directly influence the words we choose to speak...
Words reflect our commitments...
Commitments inluence our choice of actions.
...Our actions directly influence theresults we achieve.

    "The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind." - William James

Yes, bad things do happen, and sometimes they "just show up." However, it is our interpretations that make a situation negative. A situation doesn't drag us down; the way we think about it does.

Henry Ford said "Whether you think you can or cannot, you're right."

YOU are in control of what you think! No one else on earth has this power unless you give it away.

Our experiences are much less important than how we choose to think about them... Facts are facts, but the view you take is your choice.

Think the best ALL the time. What's the harm?

If you find yourself having a negative thought, say "STOP!" out loud, and replace it with a positive thought. Saying "STOP!" out loud is important so you can actually hear yourself controlling your own thinking.

When you change the way you look at things, things change the way they look.

..."lucky" people get the best of themselves and others by focusing on:
Forgiveness vs. Anger
Others vs. Self
Opportunities vs. Problems
Gratitude vs. Envy
Abundance vs. Scarcity
Today vs. Yesterday
Building up vs. Breaking down
Humor vs. Drama
Controllable things vs. Uncontrollable things
Giving vs. Taking

The more you focus on the "positive side of life," the more you will attract these things. Focus on forgiveness and you will find the world forgiving. Focus on the comedy life offers and your life will be full of laughs. On the other hand, focus on the drama life offers and your life will be a soap opera.

...luck is 90% preparation and 10% opportunity.

Ask yourself, "Do my words reflect a commitment to being joyful, helping others, creating win-wins, keeping things in perspective, seizing the moment, continuously learning, embracing change?"

"How can I make the most of this situation?"

"How can I ask questions to get the best from myself and others?"

     "It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question". - Decouvertes

     "If you don't make things happen, then things will happen to you." - Roman Virgil

The rewards go to those who let their actions rise above their excuses.

    "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." - Winston Churchill

Since adversity has an uncanny knack of paralyzing us, it becomes critical to keep moving through it.

Studies are showing that gratitude is the most common characteristic amongst the happiest people.

    "When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us." - Helen Keller

    "When you are in a bd mental state, think of your mind as a bad neighborhood.  Don't go in there alone." - Unknown

Life is your performance. There are no dress rehearsals for the performance we call life.  We get one chance to perform our life's symphony.  No one delivers a perfect performance. We can all expect to miss a note or two, but we should all strive to learn, grow and improve.  Being our best is more about the journey than the destination.

    "Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude." - Thomas Jefferson