You’ve heard people say, “That person has a bad attitude” or “That person has a good or great attitude.” What do we mean by attitude? How does someone determine their own or another person’s attitude? Can attitude change?
First, what is attitude? It’s a person’s point of view about something. It’s a way someone thinks or feels about other things or people. What types of attitudes can we have? For any given subject or person we can have a positive, negative or neutral attitude. We can also exhibit or receive a tough attitude or a soft attitude. It’s how we think, feel or react based on our life experiences. It’s also subjective. How we define, perceive or exhibit attitude comes from within us and is pretty much our choice as to how we are experiencing it. Is one type of attitude better than another? It all depends on the situation and how we perceive it based on our life experiences. The same situation can elicit different attitudes from different people based on how each has traveled through their life journey.
Our attitudes about anything are ours, alone, to have. Others can share the same attitude but the attitude is still ours to choose. Judgment about an attitude is really only for our own making. We can’t know everything that others have experienced in order to judge their attitude. We can only accept or reject it based on our life experiences.
Can we change our attitudes? Certainly, just like we can change our minds and actions. We need to look closely at how we perceive any given situation in order to determine how we feel about it. But, with additional input in any situation, we can decide if we need to have a different attitude toward it.
It seems to boil down to becoming insightful when it comes to our thoughts, reactions and actions. Only we can choose the attitude that will best serve us and others when we interact with them. Only we can reevaluate any given situation in order to determine if we need to make changes in our attitude.
We need to be responsible stewards of our attitudes and actions in order to interact in the world in the best possible way. But, remember, in the end, the choice is mine and the choice is yours.
What do you think? Respond to my blog if you have something to share.
