Shift Your Attitude

Confirming your strength

When something happens to upset or discourage me, I feel as if I’m blown off course and the infamous ‘Why Me?’ kicks into my mind chatter. It’s at times like these that I have to work on shifting my attitude.

An example of this happened the other morning. We woke to no electricity. Checked fuse boxes and all was Ok. When we phoned the energy supplier, we were told that no one else had reported a fault and we needed to check with our neighbours.  We then discovered that no other house nearby had a problem. So, it seemed as though it was just us.

My mind went into overdrive with possibilities. May be dodgy wiring. This was going to be expensive. Then the dreaded Why Us? kicked in. I found myself focusing on all the things I couldn’t do that day without power and realized relatively quickly that I was in danger of spiraling down into a black hole with this train of thought.

To shift my attitude, I looked at what we were able to do without electricity. We had a gas hob so could boil water for coffee. We had a gas fire so could be warm in one room. We had candles to provide some light, and we had food in the cupboard. Light, heat, food and hot drinks. We had all we needed.

This meant that I could use the day to write in my journal and read. I could work on my book. Lots of things I could do to be productive.

Having a reframed positive mind, I decided to ring the supplier again, to check the current situation and take any necessary action required to restore the power.

A result!  Someone else in the area had reported no electricity and they had found a fault. Problem would be fixed very soon. Within twenty minutes the power was back on. 

Instead of dripping toxic chemicals into my body from my negative thoughts, I mentally shifted my perspective, confirming my inner strength and the world changed. A good example for me to remember.

My experience is a reminder that when life’s difficulties cause you to feel disturbed and victimised, it is helpful to remember that these situations do not occur as some perverse trick to stop your progress or unbalance your mental well-being.

This isn’t a personal attack on you. Life’s events just happen and they happen to all of us. So instead of seeing the problem as a huge hurdle, you have the power to shift your attitude. This allows your perspective to change so you can view the struggle you’re experiencing, in a different way. In so doing, you also confirm your inner strength.

You can then move forward from this point in a positive way. Hopefully you also avoid disappearing into a black pit of despair and gloom. Thinking unhelpful thoughts like ‘I knew this would happen just as things were going well etc.’ only serves to exacerbate the situation.

Shifting your attitude to a different, more positive perspective, increases your determination to keep going. You can use this experience as another learning tool to reinforce how capable you are at dealing with life’s deviations.

Confirming your strength in this way, allows you to focus on what you want to happen, and what you already have in your life rather than the opposites. It prepares you to carry out whatever action is required, in the given situation.

This is another form of self-respect, which is being mentally faithful to yourself.

Shifting your attitude is an excellent tool to confirm your strength and help you to feel more confident about yourself.