Change

Yesterday, I did a radio segment on this topic.  I discussed the difference between having  positive and a negative attitude.  I also discussed the impacts that each attitude has on our relationships and life situations.

If you would like to listen to that segment you can do so by visiting the Having An Attitude That Changes Things radio page.

If you heard the show and would like to read the remainder of my thoughts on the topic, you can jump ahead and read it here.

If you’d rather read the text of the show, you can do so below. This post includes Part 1 & Part 2 of the show

Have you ever felt yourself being challenged?

Now I don’t mean like “Hey I bet you can’t tap your head and rub your belly type of challenged.

What I mean is the type of Challenge that causes you to either step up or run away.  It shouts at you and says something like this…No! You can’t do that.  You wouldn’t even if you could.  You’re too afraid or you’re no strong enough.  It may even say, You know they say you should practice what you preach, but you can’t live up to that standard, It’s too high…

I know this challenge too well.  I hear the voice of Pestering Paul all of the time.  He really gets on my nerves.  Right when things are going really well, one or two unexpected things happen  and BOOM…there goes Pestering Paul in my ear.

Now I  know you may be thinking or even saying out loud…Makeda…where are you going with this? Let me explain.  This morning as I was working on a podcast, I got a call about a family emergency.  I had been planning on doing my show one way. But I had a feeling that things would be a bit different today, so I tried to prerecord my show so the I could upload it this morning instead of doing it live tonight.  After loading a few songs and putting it all together, I headed out the door.  I told myself that I would upload it once I got home because I had already done all the hard work.  I just needed to submit it, so that you all could hear it.

My day went well.  I’ll admit, my day went well.  Although there were a few hiccups with the family emergency, parking troubles, and rushed dinner for my family, it still went well.  Still, I came home looking forward to posting my show.  When I sat down to do it, the file would not load right.  I tried it from two different computers.  I listened to it on multiple devices in my home, but for some reason, I couldn’t get it to work on the computer.

Now, I’m new at this, so I’m going to get it to work, but I began to hear Pester Paul’s voice.  All of a sudden, I began to realize that I was being faced with the choice of being like Negative Nancy or Positive Patty. Who are these ladies? You ask…

Let me tell you about them.

Negative Nancy is a woman that encounters situations and always happens to find the worst in them.  Everything that happens to her, just happens to be the worst thing that ever happened.  She believes that everyone’s intentions are always negative toward her.  She can always point out the things that need some fixing.  She’s quick to say what’s been done wrong.  Negative Nancy has a demeanor that shows she isn’t in the mood for anything because something is bound to happen.  And it does.  Negative things happen to Negative Nancy all of the time.  Not only that but when someone meets her, she seems to drain all of their energy from them.  She negative makes them want to flee from her presence.  People can only stand to be around her for a short period of time.  .

Then there is Positive Patty.  She’s friends with Negative Nancy.  How is this possible? You ask…Well, Positive Patty is able to see that Negative Nancy has an eye, ear, and a mind for detail.  She realizes that Negative Nancy is so detail oriented that she never gives herself to see the bigger picture.  This isn’t something that Positive Patty only does with Negative Nancy.  No, she does this with everything and everyone that she comes in contact with.  She is always able to find the positive in a situation. And she believes that people are good and have goodness in them.   No matter what happens, Positive Patty can find some good in it.  She has even said that there is some to be taken away from failures.  Failures become great successes when they teach us what not to do and how to do better next time. Failures Teach us about our strengths and weaknesses.  They also help us learn and set limits.

These are the type of things that Positive Patty, thinks, believes, and says.  Her positive outlook seems to bring great things and people to her.  Not only do great things happen to Positive Patty, but she also does great things for others.  Positive Patty’s life seems great just like her attitude.  This woman makes people want to be around her with an attitude like this. We enjoy being around her, laughing and just being in her presence. She makes me want to be around her.

I think you’d agree that the more positive a person is, the more we all want to be around them

It’s not that they ignore the daily situations that come up in life, they just have a specific way of looking at these things that many of us don’t.

The good thing is that we can decide who we want to be.  Do I want to be a Negative Nancy?   The woman that now one wants to be around who cannot find a way to encourage anyone.  Or do I want to be a Positive Patty.  The woman that can encourage people all the time.  Do I want to make people healthy with a joyous heart.  Or do I want to crush their bones with my negativity.

Who knew that words and thought were so positive…God

I’m not sure if you realize it or not, but Negative Nancy and Positive Patty can both be mothers.  They have a very strong impact on their children.  They are the difference between a child going to school early in the morning and seeming everything through a broken glass.  They aren’t able to find any good in the world or encourage themselves, let alone be a light in the dark world and inspire other children.  This child is frustrated all day.  Or a child that goes to school and encourages other people.  When bad things happen, they are able to find the good in it.  This child also prays that great things happen in the lives of others and form him or herself.  I don’t know about you, but that’s how I want my children to be.  I want them to walk out of the house and face the world with a positive and encouraging attitude.

W can help friends in the difficult areas of their  life.  Give people a reason to want to even try.

How do you do that.  You do it by first seeing it yourself.  You do that by making sure that you take the opportunity to look at life in the right way.  There is a scripture in the bible.

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:8

What is this scripture telling us.  It’s saying that there is a specific way of looking a life and there are things that we should be focusing on.  We should be focusing on the lovely and good things.  The beautiful things should get our attention.  Being positive will also bring us joy and keep us healthy. That is why the bible says that joy is like medicine. Being positive is healthy. Haven’t you heard that laughter is like medicine to the soul.  This isn’t just a saying.  They university of Maryland has found this to be true.  People who laugh often, live longer than those that don’t laugh very often or find joy in their lives.   I don’t know about you but I want to see my grand kids grow up.

We have to be able to laugh.  My husband was telling me that I have to learn to laugh at myself.  He said that he has had to learn this skill.  When others crack jokes of point out mistakes, there can be a lesson and a joy that comes to my heart in the midst of it.  Why? Because the joy of the lord is my strength.  I realized that if I can’t laugh about something, I need to get to the root of the why so that I can fix it and find joy.  Of course there will be things that are just not funny, but everything can’t fall into that category.

We have to do this on purpose because this isn’t an easy road.  We have to take these steps, one positive foot at a time.

So that was my challenge today.  I had to continue to have joy and be positive in the midst of the unscheduled events today. I had to turn all of the many negatives into a positive.  We have to take time to adjust or attitude.

How can we check ourselves?

By having an accountability partner.  I have my best friend…

Often times, I’ll run a few things past her.  I’ll ask her about a situation, not telling her what I think just yet.  I’ll get her opinion on it.  She may say that she doesn’t see anything wrong with the situation.  She may also say that she sees a huge problem.  That’s when I tell her my thoughts on it.  We discuss it and this really helps me.

We don’t always have to have a person to discuss these things with.  God gave us the Holy Spirit.  Our conscious will give us warnings….

It’s very easy to be negative especially when our feelings are being hurt.  But we have to realize that we can turn around a situation or the day of someone else when we have a positive attitude.  We should ask others how they are doing with a smile and a encouraging attitude.  We are the light of Christ in the world.  Today God has given us the ability, because we have His Holy Spirit, to help others.  Let’s encourage other people. We never know what others are going through or what situations they are facing.  They may be having a really bad day or simply need a smiling face to encourage them.

You and I can take up this challenge and move forward.