Has anyone ever told you that you have a bad attitude? Or maybe you think you have a bad attitude? Would you be surprised to find out that your attitude is created largely in part because of your thoughts? It’s true. The way that you think can be directly attributed to the way you act.
Thought Habits
How could something you are thinking affect the way you act around others? This is largely in part because of the way your brain works. Just as you must do something each and every day to make it a habit, when you think about the same thing every day, this becomes a thought habit.
And thought habits will continue to pass through your mind without you even realizing it, and this in turn can cause you to make decisions with your actions that you may not even be aware you are making. Every time you complete these actions, the thought is reinforced and the cycle continues.
For example, if you wake up thinking every day that you aren’t good enough, chances are, your shoulders may slump forward and you will have a gloomy attitude. And when you go through your day like this, people notice the gloomy attitude and shy away from you, adding to your negative thinking, affecting your progress on achieving your goals.
This will lead to you not feeling good enough when you go to bed, because you’ll be thinking of the terrible day you just had. Then you will wake up the next morning thinking you aren’t good enough again. See how dangerous these thought habits can be?
Emotions Also Affect Attitude
When you have numerous negative thought habits, these can affect your emotions as well. Think about the last time you were sad or mad. How did you act while you were feeling that way? What was your tone of voice like?
The answer to both of these is probably not very nice. And when you continually think thoughts that can make you sad or mad, this can affect how you act as well as how you are perceived. If you want to change your attitude, you need to get to the root of your problem, your thoughts.
Identifying Negative Thought Patterns
If you want to change your attitude by changing your thoughts, the first step is to identify the negative thought patterns in your life. This can be difficult to self-evaluate, especially if you have some very deeply habitual negative thought patterns. One way to start is to write down (journal) all the thoughts which leave you feeling sad or angry. Make a note of any specific action which you know affects your attitude. Take time to trace down the thought which kickstarts that action. Once you have a list of the thoughts which affect your attitude it’s time to work on transforming or changing them.
If you find yourself thinking that you aren’t good enough, transform this instead to the thought that you are good enough. It will take some time. Find ways to catch yourself in the negative thinking mode, face it and make a point to replace it with a good one. Soon, you’ll have instilled a new positive thought pattern and your attitude will reflect it.
Overall, if you aren’t happy with your attitude and want to change it, you must address the root of your problems: negative thought patterns.
Once you have isolated and solved your repetitive negative thoughts you will be on your way to becoming the person you want to be.
Changing your PERSPECTIVE about negative self-talk lies reveals unseen POSSIBILITIES creating new PATHWAYS opening onto which you can choose to PROCEED in truth.