2. Practice positive habits
Once you have “X’ed” away your negative habits — replacing them with more positive activities and behavior, it’s now time to put these habits into practice. Develop a schedule if necessary. Remember the words of Aristotle: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” Suppose one reflection of your negativity includes spouting off snide remarks about your colleagues the moment they turn their back. By recognizing why you behave this way — through introspection — you can first, identify the negative habit, which leads to a sour attitude, and consciously replace it with something more positive.
Find subtle yet honest ways to compliment those you used to disparage. Don’t come on too strong and sudden — that smacks of phoniness. You may even feel phony at first — like a surfer trying on a tuxedo. But, remember, it took a lifetime for you to develop your current attitude. Positive behavior takes time as well. Over time, you’ll find that your new set of habits will begin to feel natural because you will have become that kind of person — a person with a positive attitude.
3. Visualize Your New Attitude
Imagine you want to commission a new house built. While searching for an architect, you interview two hopeful prospects. The first one presents a detailed plan for your new home. She uses visual aids and her own imagination to help you virtually “see” how the building will flow with the land, how the beams and rafters will rise and how each room will be laid out.
The second architect simply walks around the building site mumbling to himself. He looks at you and says, “Well, I can’t really explain how I’ll design your house, it’ll just get built somehow.” Which architect will you hire?
You are the architect of the rest of your life. It’s up to you to not only live a positive attitude, but also to project how that life will play out in the movie screen called your imagination. Take some quiet time out of your day and relax in your favorite place — the beach, a park, a calming, quiet room and simply imagine what kind of person you would be if you put the principles of a positive attitude into practice on a daily basis. Write notes about the visualization. Certain scientific studies have shown that repeated visualization of certain behavior may help encourage the brain to form neural pathways to make those activities operate more smoothly.
Once you begin to practice positive attitude habits, you will experience the joy of a slowly-but-surely evolving, life — your compass is pointed toward happiness.
But, don’t make the mistake of thinking the terrain will be the same throughout the journey. Compass needles don’t stay stuck on one heading. Notice how a compass needle responds to changes in directions — in a very flexible, almost feathery, kind of movement. If we don’t make room for change, we risk losing our direction and falling back into a negative attitude.
