Developing Your Best Attitude:

To the right is the cover of my Motorcycle History book available on Amazon.

Your personal attitude is an area in which you have more control than you might think. Everyone experiences ups and downs in life but it's largely how you choose to respond to them that makes a difference.  I am not suggesting that when bad things happen to you that you deny the reality of the situation and put on a fake "smiley" face and deny the hurt!  What you can do, however, is accept life as it comes, understand that all people have their own burdens to carry, and make the best of it.   You are not the only one with challenges, everyone else has them as well.  You might be surprised that others may have it much worse than you do.  Learning to deal honestly with your problems is the place to start.  We establish patterns which we follow throughout life and as we accept and confront our problems, we learn from them so as to not continually duplicate them.  It may not be a surprise to you, but many people suffer from the same sorts of problems throughout their lives because they don't learn how to resolve the core issue.  If you don't learn how to budget your money, you will continually have financial problems, if you don't know how to be respectful of others, you will continually have relationship problems, if you don't know how to use your time wisely, you will never have time to get important things done.  We could go on and on.  Here are some suggestions which may help:

1.  Begin looking at the areas of your life which bring you the most stress and consider ways to resolve the sources of the discontment.  This is not easy task but is an important starting point.  Don't get frustrated with the time it takes to see change in this area, it's a lifelong journey.

2.  Begin developing the areas in your life which bring you the most satisfaction.  Within those areas you will find your best opportunities for growth and fulfillment. 

3.  Don't to look back to past hurts, failures, or conflicts!  You can't change them and they will continue to discourage you as you ruminate on them.  

4.  Every day try to do something fun and productive, no matter how insignificant those activities might be.

5.  Every day do something good for someone else even if it's just giving a compliment to someone you don't know;

6.  Develop greater discipline in your life so that you can begin setting healthy patterns which allow you to accomplish more.  We all live by the patterns we develop over time, so better habits increase our happiness levels.

7. Get some exercise, eat healthy foods, spend time outdoors and get some sun, stay active doing things which interest you.

Happy people generally live longer, are healthier, have better marriages, have more friends, and enjoy life more fully!  A person can't "will" themselves to be more positive, content, and cheerful. By practicing a number of life patterns,however, they better allow themselves to develop their greatest personal potential!  Establishing more productive patterns and living by those patterns will allow a person to slowly develop a more rewarding lifestyle. Don't allow yourself to spiral downward into negativity and hopelessness, but build on the positives in your life. You probably have more good things going on than you think you do!