DAY 167 Are You Contagious & Choosing a Winning Attitude

Hello Journal & Friends!

Are you contagious?

I've heard for years that attitudes are contagious. Is yours worth catching?

On this journey to health, I must admit that I am very careful what I fill my mind with... our thinking can make or break us. Getting rid of "stinking thinking" will make all the difference in the world.

Every day I try to do something, anything, that will add fuel to the fires of my determination. If you think you can coast along without that extra effort, you are fooling yourself. Sooner or later it will catch up with you. I know... because the minute I get complacent or lazy, those old thoughts creep up on me, too,  and start whispering in my ear. :-O

No one can be "up"  24/7. There are the normal currents, the ebbs and flows of life... that's normal.

It's fun when on the UP swing, bubbling, and full of enthusiasm. But other times, it might be a quiet confidence.

And then there are those times when I'm not feeling a thing, at least on the surface. Or times when I feel discouraged.

But here's the thing...you don't have to let it stay. We are not victims. We have choices.

 Think of it as a visitor knocking at the door of your home. Once you discover it's identity, you have the choice as whether or not to invite it in.

 If it's Mr Self Pity... too many times I have invited him in and thrown a party... a pity party. I've sent out invitations to friends by whining about poor me, my situation, boo hoo, and wallowing in all the "oh you poor baby's" that come rolling in. I'm not talking about just letting people know where you're at... I talking about wallowing in it. 

Evict the undesirables from your head! 

Choose your focus.. do something that will feed the healthy feelings, uplifting attitudes, motivating thoughts. 

• Have it written down somewhere... 
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• Have a go-to place on the internet where you know you can get fed good stuff.
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• Have some really upbeat blogs to visit that you've bookmarked.
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• Try the Daily Motivator, by Ralph Marston (in my sidebar)
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• Read the Bible? Dust it off and dive into the Psalms.

Do SOMETHING pro-active, don't just float downstream like a dead fish, and allow the negativity to grow bigger and stronger. 

You may think that being passive is doing nothing. Wrong!

Actually being passive IS a decision. By choosing to DO NOTHING to fight against the drag of negative thoughts, you HAVE done something... you chose to go along, to not fight, to give in, to let it have it's way with you. 

 If you let it go on too long, it wipes out hope, kills enthusiasm, and saps energy. You begin to sound like Eeyore, from Winnie the Poo stories. And the sad part is... you might not even hear yourself. 

We ALL have ups and downs, but some people STAY down. They might not even know they have a choice. Other than being caused by a medical condition, it's a choice as to whether or not we wallow in the mud or not. 

It's a choice to make the effort to stay positive. And it DOES take effort.

When you are hugely overweight, in physical pain, or other challenges, it IS harder. You have to make up your mind you will fight for your very life! And part of that is changing what kind of thoughts you allow to live in your head.

These are tough words. It has taken me a lifetime to bust free, to take back my life. I passionately wish I could carry everyone along with me, to pour hope and enouragement into them, and set their hearts on FIRE with enthusiasm. But unless they took up the torch and carried it on themselves, the flame would soon sputter out.

 If I come on too strong and unintentionally offend, please know it's because I care so very much. Passivity will get you nowhere. Life--and this journey to health--is like a boomerang... you get back what you throw out there. To succeed, you MUST throw some effort into it.

We can DO this. It is a choice. It may not always be easy, but it IS doable.

Make no mistake about it...the battle is won or lost between the ears.

From Dr Phil's book: "I'm not powerless over this behavior. I'm in charge of myself. I have to choose what's more important: reactive overeating or taking care of my health. It's my choice, and I can do something about it."

My verse for today: "A cheerful heart is good medicine."

My quote for today: "If you want to be successful then mimic successful people. If you want to be healthy then do what healthy people do." --Dave Ramsey