Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Attitude ~ The Magic Word

attitude
Earl Nightingale

Back in the 1980s I became a big fan of the writings and recordings of Earl Nightingale. I listened to his "The Strangest Secret" countless times. It was his philosophy, combined with the call of God, that enabled me to contine to work toward the accomplishments of my academic goals regardless of how frustrating it could be at times. In that recording Nightingale said, "We become what we think about most of the time." Hmmmm, sounds like, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." In fact most of the principles within Nightingale's teachings have biblical roots.

Somewhere around 1990 I purchased Nightingale's cassette album entitled "Lead the Field." I still own it and have since copied the recordings to .mp3s. I still listen to these insightful words of wisdom on a regular basis.

The first recording is called, The Magic Word, The magic word is attitude. Nightingale defined attitude this way:

“The position or bearing as indicating action, feeling, or mood.” And it is our actions—feelings—or moods—which determine the actions, feelings, or moods of others toward us, and which control, to a surprising extent, our success or failure."

In the remainder of this post I want to summarize some of Nightingale's suggestions for using a positive attitude in order to enjoy the best of life.

Attitude ~ Reach Out to People

Being an outgoing person is almost magical when it comes to attracting the things you want in life. People rarely come to us (although it does happen) with an opportunity or an idea they think we are a good fit for. People tend to reach out to those who have first reached out to them.

Nightingale shared a story of a retired couple who moved to the retirement community of their dreams. But after a couple of months they were packing to return home. They were offended that no one in the community came and welcomed them or invited them to any of the community events. This couple was expecting people to come to them. And yes, they probably should have. But the reality is that people usually leave each to his own. If the couple had gotten out of their condo and went and introduced themselves to others and shown interest in others then they would have made friends rather quickly. 

The Principle: Reach out to people and stop expecting them to reach out to you. More good things will happen for you. Jesus was always going to where the people were

Attitude ~ Be Grateful

Nightingale stressed that we should wake up every day with an attitide of being grateful. He noted that we should be grateful to live in this great country that is filled with opportunity to do and be whatever we desire to do and be. We should be thankful for family, friends, and colleagues AND we should tell them regularly just how thankful we are for them.

Rather than looking around at all that is not so good in our lives we should look at all that is good. We should count our blessings each and every day. As God's Word stresses, "This is the day that the LORD has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." And also, "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

I need to work on this one. I tend to fall into that tired old rut of thinking about the things that are not as I prefer them to be. I get frustrated with myself when I do. But then I just say to myself this one magic word, "Attitude." When I do the things and people I am grateful for begin to come to mind instantly. 

The Principle: Be grateful. Period!




Attitude ~ Be Expectant

Nightingale also said that he begins each day with an expectancy that the day was going to be a good one. He believed that only good things were going to happen each and every day. How many people wake up every day expecting the worst? How many expect a Murphy's Law kind of a day? How many expect to be stressed at work? How many expect the difficulties? How many expect the not-so-good? Too many to be sure.

In my life I have met countless happy and successful people. I am sure that you have as well. What I have learned about them (and Nightingale reinforced this truth) is that they expect to be happy and successful. They love their work and the people that God has brought into their lives. They reach out to people. They are humble and thankful. They expect good things and manifold blessings in their lives. 

Nightingale challenged his listeners to conduct a 30-day test. He said taking this test would absolutely change your life. He's right. Here's the test:

For the next 30 days ...

1. Treat every person you meet or encounter as the most important person in the world.
2. Wake up each day with a grateful heart and make sure you tell the people in your life how grateful you are for them.
3. Wake up each day expecting that the day will be a good one. 

I trust these thoughts have been a blessing to you.

Tony Guthrie

Please leave a comment below. I would love to hear from you.

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