And yes, I do mean that. Happy Tuesday, no sarcasm intended. Which brings me to my topic for today: Attitude adjustment. This has been something that I've been thinking about for a while now, and likewise something I've struggled with for a while. I'm working on it though!
Today at work, I was sitting by a good friend of mine discussing how depressing The Boy in the Striped Pajamas was, and how afterwards I really just needed to pray for a while for a confirmation that everything would be okay. I then realized after a bit of thought that everything would in fact be okay, and I said so to him. He responded to me adamantly that everything would not in fact be okay, and I was shocked by that response. That was when I decided to write about attitude adjustments today.
So where to start? Let me tell you first off that I am by no means an optimist. I'm sure this will come up in a later post, but I am very aware of the pain and struggles that are ever present in the world, and I will never shove those aside as nothing. But attitude adjustment is so much more than just whether you are smiling or frowning regularly. I think the part of attitude that most of us as people miss is the attitude in presentation. By this I mean the way our ideas and thoughts our presented. A few weeks ago in church, our general topic in our meeting was hope. This seems like a topic you really can't go wrong with, but as both the talks were given it was almost shocking to hear the difference between the two. Although both men were speaking on the exact same topic and covering the exact same principles, the first speaker's talk was very positive while the second's was negative and depressing.
One aspect of attitude adjustment is we choose to dwell on. As I was listening to the talks that were given in my church service, one of the main things that stood out to me that was a difference between the two was that one focused on examples of hope, while the other focused on examples of lack of hope. Attitude differences like this can be seen in many different ways, such as parents who raise their children with fear of doing something wrong versus parents who raise their children with praise for what they do right.
Although this all happened in church, the topic of attitude is not a religious one. The general populace seems to want to be happy as far as I'm aware, religious or not. I believe attitude adjustment in presentation is one of the best places to start.
Another example of this is when I was scrolling through my twitter newsfeed and saw a promoted post for a twitter account called "PostMos". This entire account consisted of a person, or possibly multiple people, who had left the Mormon church and were ripping it apart through tweets and memes. I was annoyed with this, not because it was ripping down my religion but because I didn't even have any idea what they did believe! This is another aspect of attitude adjustment. I couldn't help but wonder to myself, "Why is it that so many people spend so much time ripping things down rather than lifting things up?" Could this person not have taken the same time to, instead of find flaws in a religion they were once a part of, advocate their new beliefs and bring to light the benefits of that instead? I understand that they don't like the LDS religion, and I'm not going to ask them to change that opinion. But could they not try a more positive approach to advertise something they do like instead of advertising flaws?
Perhaps some of the friendships torn apart by offensive comments would still be in place, while at the same time two different people could still be promoting opposite things.
Now before anyone says that I have no idea what I'm talking about, I'd like to bring to light some personal examples. First of all, I have kept many close friends with different beliefs. Even though religion and beliefs are common topics among my friends and I, these friendships remain strong because as topics where we don't agree come up, we are able to express our differences without being insulting or demeaning about the other person's beliefs. Second, I have many friends with strong different political ideologies. And guess what? I am able to discuss politics with them without getting into any fights. Once again, this is because we are able to express our differences without being insulting or demeaning about the other person's beliefs. This is applicable to all differences, including trivial matters such as being a fan of rival colleges!
I think what it comes down to is mutual respect. Lets face it, a negative attitude towards another's beliefs, if expressed, is showing a lack of respect.
It's everywhere, the different ways that attitude can be changed for the better. Just take a look at the conversations you have with those close to you. If things are strained, try an attitude adjustment. I promise you, tensions will get lighter, and life will get better.
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