19.04.2021 Views

The power of your attitude

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

Copyrighted material


Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®

, NIV ® . Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ® Used by permission. All rights

reserved worldwide.

Verses marked nlt are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007,

2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol

Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Verses marked esv are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version ® ), copyright

© 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All

rights reserved.

Cover by Knail, Salem, Oregon

Published in association with Meadow’s Edge Group.

THE POWER OF YOUR ATTITUDE

Copyright © 2016 Stan Toler

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

ISBN 978-0-7369-6825-6 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-7369-6826-3 (eBook)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Toler, Stan, author.

Title: The power of your attitude / Stan Toler.

Description: Eugene, Oregon : Harvest House Publishers, 2016.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016004091 (print) | LCCN 2016022725 (ebook) | ISBN

9780736968256 (pbk.) | ISBN 9780736968263 ()

Subjects: LCSH: Attitude (Psychology)—Religious aspects—Christianity.

Classification: LCC BV4509.5 .T65 2016 (print) | LCC BV4509.5 (ebook) | DDC

248.4—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016004091

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted

in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any

other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 / BP-SK / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Copyrighted material


To my granddaughter,

Clara Jane Toler

Copyrighted material


Copyrighted material


Contents

Why You Need This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

The Gift of a Great Attitude ......................... 9

Part 1: The Power of Your Attitude

1. The Power of Thoughts:

Your Thoughts Shape Your Identity ................... 17

2. The Power of Words:

Your Words Become Your Reality .................... 31

3. The Power of Actions:

Your Actions Determine Your Character ............... 41

4. The Power of Habits:

Your Habits Predict Your Future ..................... 49

5. The Power of Choice:

Your Choices Change Your Life ...................... 61

Part 2: Seven Choices with the

Power to Transform Your Life

6. Believe It Will All Work Out:

Choose Hope ................................... 71

7. Don’t Take Yourself Too Seriously:

Choose Humility ................................. 79

8. Count Your Blessings:

Choose Gratitude ................................ 89

9. Give More Than You Take:

Choose Generosity ............................... 97

10. Be Kind to Everyone You Meet:

Choose Compassion .............................. 109

Copyrighted material


11. Celebrate Life:

Choose Joy ..................................... 119

12. Keep Going No Matter What:

Choose Perseverance .............................. 129

Part 3: Becoming a Positive Person

13. Rebooting Your Brain for a Positive Outlook:

Change Your Future by Renewing Your Mind ........... 141

14. Leveraging the Mind-Body Connection:

Improve Your Attitude by Improving Your Daily Habits ... 153

15. Becoming a Positive Influence:

Help Yourself by Helping Others ..................... 165

You Can! ....................................... 175

Notes .......................................... 179

Copyrighted material


Why You Need This Book

Many people are trapped in negative thinking that produces fear,

failure, and unhappiness. Though they may long for greater

achievements, better relationships, and happier lives, they’re

mired in a spiral of negative thinking, complaining, and self-fulfilling

prophecies. Sadly, many give up even wishing for change and settle for

a life that’s boring and unfulfilling.

If that describes you, I have great news: It doesn’t have to be that

way! The secret to a happier and more successful life is not to change

your circumstances (you often can’t) or to control what others do (you

never can). It’s to change the one thing over which you have absolute

authority—your attitude.

It’s been proven time and time again that people with a positive outlook

are happier and more successful, and have greater career satisfaction

and a better self-image. The reason for this is simple: Your attitude

has incredible power to shape your life. Negative thinkers see negativity,

think negative thoughts, and develop negative habits. Not surprisingly,

they feel worse about themselves, enjoy less success, and experience less

joy in life. Positive thinkers see possibilities, choose to pursue them,

and more easily bounce back from failure. They have more energy and

hope, and encounter more opportunities. Both types of thinkers live in

the same world, but those who have a positive attitude leverage a power

that enables them to move through life with greater joy and satisfaction.

Through the pages of this book, I’ll share with you the lessons I’ve

learned about positive psychology and the power of a positive attitude

to transform your life for the better. Many of these lessons came from

the most positive thinker I’ve ever known, my dad. Though he passed

7

Copyrighted material


8

The Power of Your Attitude

away when I was just 11 years old, he modeled for me the seven critical

choices that have shaped my entire life. I want to share those insights

with you. Through this book you will…

• recognize the incredible, often unnoticed power of attitude

in every area of life.

• be inspired to believe that change is possible, regardless

of the circumstances.

• be confident of your ability to implement change

through simple, practical strategies.

• leverage the power of positive mental choices.

• gain courage for dealing with disappointment and

failure.

• become a happier, more successful person.

If you’re thinking that’s too good to be true, let me assure you it’s

not. This isn’t magic or wishful thinking. I’ll share with you the proven

principles that have been tested not only by my own experience but by

a host of scientific research. These chapters will…

• provide real-life examples of the power of attitude.

• create a sense of urgency in you for personal change.

• demonstrate the positive effect of choosing joy, gratitude,

kindness, hope, and other virtues.

• teach practical strategies for implementing personal life.

I’m eager to share these life lessons with you. I believe you have the

power to make positive life choices, choose a positive outlook, and

transform your life from stuck to spectacular. You can do this!

Copyrighted material


Part 1

The Power of Your Attitude

Your Attitude Determines Your Destiny

Your attitude is the basic lens or frame through which you see

yourself, the world, and other people. You can have a positive

attitude or a negative one, and you’ll see the world accordingly.

A very wise man once said, “Your eye is a lamp that provides light

for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with

light. But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness.

And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that

darkness is!” 1 In other words, the way you look at things (your “eye”)

will shape the course of your life for better or worse. The good news

is that you can have a positive attitude that shapes your life in positive

ways!

In this section, you’ll discover the five critical ways that your attitude

exerts power in your life:

thought

word

action

habit

choice

In the next five chapters, you’ll discover why your attitude matters

so much in determining your future. You’ll see the incredible power of

the mind in shaping your life and your happiness. And remember, you

have the power to choose your attitude!

15

Copyrighted material


Copyrighted material


1

The Power of Thoughts

Your Thoughts Shape Your Identity

Your first step forward in harnessing the power of a positive attitude

is to believe that your attitude actually does exert incredible

influence over every aspect of your life. What you think shapes

your identity, literally determining the kind of person you’ll be and the

things you’ll do. The people who achieve their goals, enjoy success, and

seem to be happy despite their circumstances didn’t get that way by

accident. They chose to have a positive outlook, and that choice shaped

everything else about them. Likewise, the people who drift through life

complaining that nothing good ever happens have also made a choice.

They interpret their circumstances through the lens of a negative attitude.

Everything looks bad to them, and it becomes bad.

You may be thinking, Well, some things really are bad! And you’re

right. People face difficult, even heartbreaking trials every day. Yet some

people emerge from those events contented, peaceful, and determined

to move forward, while others seem to wither away. The only difference

is their attitude. In the same way, many people experience wonderful

things like a great job, a loving family, and good health, but

nothing ever seems to satisfy them; they’re always unhappy—because

they choose to be. Charles Swindoll, the highly acclaimed teacher and

author, put it this way:

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude

on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It

is more important than the past, than education, than

money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes,

17

Copyrighted material


18

The Power of Your Attitude

than what other people think or say or do… I am convinced

that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90

percent how I react to it. And so it is with you… We are in

charge of our attitudes. 1

You have the power to choose your response to any situation. And

in that power lies the ability to control your identity, your happiness,

and many aspects of your future. You’re in charge of the most powerful

force in your life: your attitude.

You Have the Power to Choose

If you still doubt that what truly shapes your life is your attitude,

not your circumstances, let me give you a stunning example of the

power of attitude that comes from the latter days of the Second World

War. You know that the Nazis imprisoned many people in concentration

camps, notably a large population of Jewish people, also many

people of other races, religions, and political persuasions. These prisoners

faced grueling hardships. Many were slaughtered by their captors,

and many others died of disease or starvation. Confinement in a

concentration camp was a virtual death sentence.

During the war, a young Jewish psychiatrist from Vienna, Austria,

was deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in what’s now

the Czech Republic, along with his entire family. Victor Frankl and his

wife Tilly were later transported to the infamous Auschwitz concentration

camp, and finally moved to the Dachau camp system where he

spent seven months, mostly working as a slave laborer. Frankl’s mother

and brother died at Auschwitz. Tilly was moved to the Bergen-Belsen

camp, where she died.

Victor Frankl describes the conditions he and others endured in his

book Man’s Search for Meaning. Living amid such suffering and cruelty,

every day a fight for food and survival, never knowing whether

they would survive the war, people chose various responses to their

circumstances. Some joined in the cruelty, surviving the camps privations

by stealing from others or cooperating with their captors. Others

simply gave up and died. But some were able to choose a different

Copyrighted material


The Power of Thoughts

19

path, living with dignity and hope even when that meant sacrificing

themselves for others.

After enduring the suffering in these camps, Frankl concluded that

even in the most painful, disorienting, and dehumanizing situation,

life has meaning.

We who lived in concentration camps can remember the

men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving

away their last piece of bread. They may have been few

in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything

can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the

human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given

set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. 2

Interestingly, the original German title of Victor Frankl’s book was

Trotzdem Ja Zum Leben Sagen, which means “saying yes to life in spite

of everything.” That’s the power you have—to say Yes! no matter what

happens. You cannot choose what happens to you, but you can choose

how you respond to it. You have the power to adopt a positive outlook,

and that power can change virtually everything about your life.

How Negative Thinking Harms You

Before we go further, it’s important for you to understand what’s at

stake in the matter of choosing a positive attitude. This goes far beyond

simplistic outcomes like seeing a glass half empty or half full. When

you choose a negative outlook on life, you open yourself to a vast range

of negative consequences. Possibly you’re living with some of these

results right now, and they’re holding you back from joy, from opportunities,

from relationships, or even earning more money.

What’s at stake? Here are a few of the results of living with a negative

outlook.

You Feel Helpless

Negative thinking traps you in a victim mentality, which is incredibly

disempowering. Negative thinkers tend to see other people as in

control of the world; as a result, negative thinkers always feel helpless.

Copyrighted material


20

The Power of Your Attitude

Other people always get the raise. Other people always get the opportunities.

Other people always succeed. Negative thinkers develop a helpless

outlook on life that keeps them rooted in place. They never change

because they don’t think they can.

Age-old wisdom from the book of Proverbs confirms this point.

“The lazy person claims, ‘There’s a lion out there! If I go outside, I might

be killed!’” 3 If you think the worst in every situation, you’ll prevent

yourself from taking any action whatsoever.

You Lack Energy

Negative thinking takes an immediate toll on one of your most

important assets, your energy level. If you’re one of those people whose

mood is affected by a lack of sunshine (called seasonal affective disorder)

you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. On cloudy days you

just feel kind of blah. Everything else may be fine, but if the sun isn’t

shining, you have to fight the urge to lie down and take a nap.

That’s exactly what negative thinking does to you. It brings you down

mentally, emotionally, and even physically. When you think negatively,

you get a deflated feeling in your stomach. You sigh a lot. You don’t

feel like doing much. As a result, you must fight a battle with yourself

every morning (and probably throughout the day) to keep your focus

and maintain your concentration. Negative thinking saps your strength.

You Suffer Physically and Emotionally

Study after study has shown the link between optimism and positive

health outcomes and between pessimism and negative health

changes. Your mind and body really are connected! While positive

thoughts generally fade in time, negative thoughts cling to you like

mold on stale bread.

Think about it. Which do you remember more vividly: the time

when you made the winning run in your Little League game, or the

time you struck out with the bases loaded?

When you welcome negative thinking, it’s like allowing weeds to

take root in your mind and body. The effect of living with bad memories,

pessimism, cynicism, doubt, anger, and other negative thoughts

Copyrighted material


The Power of Thoughts

21

can literally kill you. If you’re wondering why you’re down or discouraged

all the time, it may have to do with your outlook on life.

Obviously, clinical depression is something else, a condition that

can be medically treated. But if you’re suffering a serious loss of energy,

experiencing sadness, and seeing negative health changes—you might

need a change in attitude.

You Miss Opportunities

Everyone is drawn to positive people. You know that from your own

experience at parties, family gatherings, school, or work. It’s more pleasant

to be around people who smile, say a cheery hello, and pitch in to

lend a hand. The opposite is true as well. Nobody likes to be around negative

people. When people complain, naysay, criticize others, and constantly

find fault with their circumstances, friends and coworkers begin

to quietly avoid that person. As a result, negative thinkers miss out on

new assignments, promotions, partnerships, and other opportunities.

And here’s the real problem: You never know it’s happening! Most

negative thinkers are unaware of the effect their mental habits have on

themselves, let alone others. If you’re a negative thinker, you may be

completely unaware of what you’re missing.

You Limit Relationships

If you’re a chronic negative thinker, your attitude is costing you relationships—something

far more valuable than money. As I’ve already

noted, people always enjoy being around a positive person, but nobody

likes to be around a pessimist. Actually, that’s not quite true. There are

people who enjoy the company of a pessimist—other pessimists! Complaining,

faultfinding, and griping drive away all but the most negative

of thinkers. So when you make negative thinking a lifestyle, you

limit yourself relationally. You’ll lose friends, and may even lose contact

with some family members who simply can’t tolerate continual negative

thinking. And again, you may never know this is happening. Negative

thinkers seldom perceive the effect of their presence on others.

If you can identify with any of those side effects of negative thinking,

you’re getting a glimpse of just how much a negative attitude can

Copyrighted material


22

The Power of Your Attitude

cost you. It affects everything from your employment to your relationships,

even your physical health. You’re seeing the truth of it now: Your

attitude really does have the power to shape your life.

The good news is that a positive attitude has that same power to an

even greater degree. When you adopt a positive attitude, you’ll experience

a wide range of beneficial results.

A Positive Attitude Brings Positive Results

Though the correlation between positive thinking and positive

results has been observed for centuries, sociologist Robert K. Merton

formalized the idea when he coined the term self-fulfilling prophecy.

Merton wrote, “The self-fulfilling prophecy is, in the beginning, a

false definition of the situation evoking a new behavior which makes

the original false conception come true.” 4

You’ve experienced this before, no doubt, or seen it in action. A

rookie basketball player unexpectedly gets to start in the big game.

With seconds left on the clock, he goes to the foul line for what could

be the game-winning shot. His knees are trembling, his hands shaking,

there’s no way he can possibly calm down enough to sink the basket. So

the coach wisely calls a timeout and calls the boy over. Placing a hand

on his shoulder, the coach says, “You’ve got this. You’re going to sink

the shot and win this game. There’s nobody I’d rather have on the line

at this moment than you.” The kid’s face brightens, and he returns to

the foul line with newfound confidence. Without hesitation, he shoots,

scores, and the game’s over. That’s the power of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

It takes a once-false definition of a situation and makes it true.

What Robert Merton identified is nothing more than the power of

positive thinking. By thinking optimistically, by choosing a positive

attitude in every situation, you unleash a power in your life. You influence

yourself and others in constructive ways. As a result, you shape

your reality by the thoughts you think.

A Positive Attitude Creates a Positive Identity

An often-repeated story about the great British architect Christopher

Wren tells of a time he was supervising the construction of a grand

Copyrighted material


The Power of Thoughts

23

cathedral in London. A newspaper reporter decided to interview some

of the workers who were constructing the magnificent building, and he

chose three men to speak with. When he asked, “What are you doing

here?” the first man replied, “I’m cutting stone for ten shillings a day.”

When he asked the next man, he answered, “I’m putting in ten hours a

day on this job.” But the third said, “I’m helping Sir Christopher Wren

construct one of London’s greatest cathedrals.”

When you choose a positive attitude, you create a positive identity

for yourself. Are you a lackey or a trusted assistant? Are you a beleaguered

single mom or a strong, empowered woman? Are you a defeated businessperson

who can’t seem to get a break, or are you an energetic, innovative

entrepreneur closing in on success? The answer is up to you. It lies

completely within your power to define your identity. You are what you

think you are. And you can become whatever you believe you can be.

A Positive Attitude Improves Your Health

Also, I’ve already noted the connection between mind and body,

and I’d like to emphasize this again. When you adopt a positive attitude

toward life, you’ll have a positive impact on your health. But don’t

take my word for that. A team of researchers who studied more than

5000 workers concluded that “people with a highly optimistic life orientation

experience daily events in a more positive way and expect

more positive outcomes than pessimists.” They noted, “highly optimistic

individuals appear to attract supportive social relationships, use

adaptive coping strategies, and have different health habits than pessimists.”

The research suggests that a positive outlook reduces the risk of

health problems after experiencing a negative life event, and promotes

faster recovery. 5 You aren’t imagining it: When you think more positively,

you actually do feel better.

A Positive Attitude Creates Possibilities

I love the story of a man who approached a Little League baseball

game one afternoon and watched the kids playing ball. He asked a boy

in one team’s dugout what the score was. “Eighteen to nothing,” the

boy said. “They’re winning.”

Copyrighted material


24

The Power of Your Attitude

“Wow,” said the onlooker, “I bet you’re discouraged.”

The boy looked mystified. “Why should I be?” he said. “We haven’t

even gotten up to bat yet!”

When you believe you’re defeated, you almost certainly will be. But

when you believe that anything is possible, something probably will be.

Opportunities come to the person who looks for them, who believes

that no situation is hopeless and that some good result is bound to occur.

When you adopt a positive outlook, you create your own possibilities.

This was more eloquently declared in a statement widely attributed

to the great Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi, who helped lead his country

to independence from a century of British rule:

Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I

keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it

is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of

doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do

it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may

not have it at the beginning.

When you believe in possibilities, you’ll begin to see them everywhere.

So by adopting a positive outlook, you actually change your

future. Things become possible for you that wouldn’t have been otherwise.

Your positive thinking shapes your world for the better.

A Positive Attitude Wins Friends

As researchers in the study noted above point out, optimistic people

attract supporting social networks. 6 That’s scientific proof that happy

people more easily win friends and influence people, as if we needed

proof of that. Intuitively, you know this is true. And it’s vitally important

for creating a positive future, because we all need friends, associates,

and teammates in order to achieve our goals and live a happy, productive

life. When you adopt a positive attitude, you’ll begin to gather

like-minded people around you. You’ll find yourself surrounded by

positive thinkers, doers, and high achievers, and they’ll inspire, encourage,

and help you, both with the problems you face in life and with the

dreams you hope to fulfill. Adopting a positive attitude is the first step

Copyrighted material


The Power of Thoughts

25

to building the momentum you need to move into the future you’d

like to create for yourself.

Simple Ways to Get Started

Clearly, there are a lot of benefits to choosing a positive attitude.

But how do you do that? If you’re like I was during my early years,

weighed down by life and a series of negative circumstances, finding a

silver lining may seem like wishful thinking. Let me assure you that it

isn’t. Here are some practical first steps toward moving yourself from

the negative column to a positive outlook.

Recognize Negative Thinking

First, recognize negative thinking in yourself. This can be difficult

to do because negative thinking can become the “hard-wiring” in your

brain. Without realizing it, you may filter everything you see and hear

through this grid of negativity. To help you recognize that, here are two

simple things you can do.

First, ask for outside help. Find someone you trust—someone

who’ll tell you the truth—to assess your attitude. You may need to

give this person permission to be completely candid with you, because

they may fear offending or upsetting you. But if you really want to

know where negative thinking affects your outlook on life, your thinking

about the future, your relationships, or any other area, you’ll need

someone to hold up the mirror, so to speak, and let you see yourself

clearly. Find someone you trust and ask them, “Would you say I’m an

optimist or a pessimist? Where do you see negative thinking in my life?”

Second, make a searching self-appraisal of your thoughts. This may

be easier to do once you’ve gotten some clues to your thinking from

an objective friend. You may find it helpful to block out some time

for this—an hour or even a whole day. Think specifically about these

areas of life:

• your reactions to stressful situations

• your tolerance for change

• your willingness to take risks

Copyrighted material


26

The Power of Your Attitude

• your feelings about meeting new people

• your self-image

• your patterns of speech

• your first reactions to news or announcements

Briefly write an assessment of your current outlook on life. Note

where it’s positive, and be completely honest about the areas in which

you’re subject to negative thinking. Don’t try to explain or justify your

reactions. Remember, nobody is accusing you of anything, so there’s no

need to be defensive about how you feel or how you look at life. Simply

state reality. If you’re able to recognize negativity in your thinking,

you’ll be able to deal with it. If you’re unwilling or unable to see when

and how you think negatively, you won’t ever change.

Resolve to Take Action

When Jesus met a man who’d been lame for 38 years, he asked what

would seem to be a ridiculous question: “Do you want to get well?” 7

Who wouldn’t want to get well! However, Jesus was probing the man’s

thinking to find out how serious he was about dealing with his problem.

Jesus wanted to know if he had the resolve to do something about

it, or perhaps was content to be helpless. Many people are.

Negative thinking can feel like a warm blanket—safe and familiar.

It seems comforting to believe that your life isn’t changing because it

can’t or because that’s just the way it is. Those negative thoughts can be

all the excuse we need to remain passive.

That’s why making the resolve to change is a necessary first step

toward improving your outlook. Do you want to have a positive attitude?

Resolve to do whatever it takes to make that change.

Practice Displacement

In part 3 of this book, I’ll give you a simple, practical plan for

renewing your thinking. I’ve also written an entire book on this subject

titled ReThink Your Life: A Unique Diet for the Mind. For now,

you can begin to shape your outlook by displacing negative thoughts

Copyrighted material


The Power of Thoughts

27

with positive ones. When you discover yourself defaulting to negative

thinking, immediately replace the negative thought with a positive one.

Here are some examples.

It’ll probably rain.

Nobody ever wins

those things.

She’ll probably say no.

I don’t think I can.

It might not rain.

Somebody has to win,

why not me?

She might say yes!

I’ll give it a try.

Does that sound simplistic? Let me assure you it’s not. Replacing

negative thoughts with positive ones, even in small ways, is a solid first

step to transforming your outlook on life. Try it and see.

Get Accountability

You can’t do this alone. That’s not negative thinking; it’s just a fact.

Making positive changes in our lives takes a network of support. If you

hope to harness the power of a positive attitude in your life, you’ll need

a support team. Begin by asking the people closest to you to keep you

accountable for changing your attitude. Simply tell them, “I’m trying

to change the way I look at life, and I really want to eliminate negative

thinking. Please let me know whenever you see or hear a negative attitude

from me. I’d really appreciate it.” Then be open to their feedback.

This, perhaps more than anything else, will help you recognize patterns

of negative thought and root them out. Find at least one friend or relative

who’ll help you change your future by changing the way you think.

You Can Do This!

I really believe you can do this. I know it seems daunting to change

your life from the inside out. You’ve experienced some tremendously

negative events in your life, and negative thinking may have become

the boilerplate in your brain—it protects you from experiencing further

disappointment. I understand.

Yet I can’t let you stay there. I care too much about you and your

future to allow you to wallow in negative thinking. You can do more,

Copyrighted material


28

The Power of Your Attitude

you can have more, you can experience more in your life! If you doubt

that, let me remind you of the amazing story of a true American hero,

Helen Keller.

Helen Keller was born on June 27, 1880, in the small town of Tuscumbia,

Alabama. Although she was born with ability to see and hear,

at 19 months of age she contracted an illness, possibly scarlet fever or

meningitis, that left her deaf, mute, and blind. For most people, that

would have meant the end of any chance for a productive life. But

Helen Keller wasn’t just any person. Helen’s amazing teacher, Anne

Sullivan, broke through the near-complete isolation that Helen lived

in, teaching her to communicate—a key to forming relationships and

experiencing life. Helen Keller grew to become a prolific author and

outspoken advocate for a number of causes, including women’s suffrage

and the rights of laborers. To say that she was empowered by a

positive attitude would be a complete understatement. Here’s what she

said about finding happiness in life:

Most people measure their happiness in terms of physical

pleasure and material possession. Could they win some visible

goal which they have set on the horizon, how happy

they could be! Lacking this gift or that circumstance, they

would be miserable. If happiness is to be so measured, I

who cannot hear or see have every reason to sit in a corner

with folded hands and weep. If I am happy in spite of

my deprivations, if my happiness is so deep that it is a faith,

so thoughtful that it becomes a philosophy of life—if, in

short, I am an optimist, my testimony to the creed of optimism

is worth hearing. As sinners stand up in a meeting

and testify to the goodness of God, so one who is called

afflicted may rise up in gladness of conviction and testify

to the goodness of life. 8

In the early 2000s, when each of the 50 United States selected

an emblem to represent that state on a unique edition of the quarterdollar,

Alabama honored one of its most favored citizens by choosing

Copyrighted material


The Power of Thoughts

29

an image of Helen Keller to place on its state quarter. It’s the only circulating

US coin to feature braille.

Regardless of the circumstances you now face, you can change your

life for the better by changing your outlook. Your attitude has the

power to lift your life to new heights or to hold you in despair. Your

attitude can win friends, influence people, and be a catalyst for making

your dreams come true, or it can be the governor on the engine of

your life, the limiting factor that ensures you’ll never succeed beyond

where you are now.

No one else can change your outlook for you. It’s up to you. Make

the choice to adopt a positive attitude. Do it for yourself, for your family,

and for your future. Let this be the first day of a beautiful new you.

Copyrighted material

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!