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Maintaining a positive attitude, in this world, can be a very difficult task to achieve. It seems as if our world falls further into despair everyday. Why is it that news stations and websites seem to thrive on murder cases, poverty issues, and horror stories, but fail to mention anything positive that is going on in the world? Well, in my opinion, attitude has a lot to do with the outcome of events and how we live our lives. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, “you must be the change you wish to see in the world.” It’s up to us, our world, and our lives, can continue in the down spiral it’s been in, or we can have confidence and hope in a positive outcome and possibly change the ways of the world.
Going through life with a positive attitude cannot only have positive affects on that person mentally, but it can also help them physically. It’s actually been proven that having a positive attitude can improve a persons’ health. A website titled Mayoclinic.com offers health tips and information from over 3,300 doctors. According to the Mayoclinic staff, researchers have found that “increased life span, Lower depression rates, lower levels of distress, greater resistance to common cold, better psychological and physical well-being, reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease, better coping skills during hardships and times of stress” are all benefits of having a positive attitude.
Therefore, knowing how critical it is for an individual to have a positive attitude is one step. The next step is to understand how to hold a positive attitude, even when times are tough. Danny Gamanche offered his top 10 tips for maintaining a positive attitude in his web-article. According to Danny, you can have a more positive attitude just by “reading positive and inspiring books,” “listening to podcasts,” and “surrounding yourself with positive people.” Another key tip Danny Gamanche mentions is to “plan out your week.” He said by planning out your week you will have a better idea of what to expect on a day to day basis, and by planning out your week you can connect your long-term goals to your daily accomplishments, which will allow you to get more done.
To sum up this idea of sustaining a positive attitude Lucy MacDonald explains, “Your attitude controls your life – your thoughts, your actions, your behavior. You are in control of your attitude, you can change your attitude and therefore change your thoughts, your actions, and your behavior.” Thus, no one else should be able to determine what outlook you have on life. Which is why, being in control of yourself and your own attitude can allow you to set your own limits in life, instead of having others set them for you.
