The government recently announced that it was going to spend several million pounds in order to find out what makes us happy!  All governments regardless of whether they are left, right or centre come up with preposterous ideas from time to time….and this seems to be a prime example!

What makes one person happy isn’t necessarily what makes somebody else happy.  There’s also a lot of truth in what Abraham Lincoln is quoted as having said. “I guess most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”

It’s also a fact that if you ‘think happy’ and ‘act happy’ you are far more likely to be happy.

But if you think back and try to recall events that stand out in your mind that gave you great pleasure and made you feel really good, it’s probable that they would be linked to having obtained or achieved something you had been looking forward to or striving for. 

For example, passing your driving test, getting an A or an A* in an exam, learning to swim, buying your first car, moving into your first home, running your first 10k or half marathon, going on your first holiday without mum and dad, getting picked for the first team, starting your own business, getting your first pay slip, learning to ski…….

You get the idea.

Feelings of elation and pure pleasure can nearly always be associated with achieving something you had really wanted.

So if you want 2011 to be a great year – set lots and lots of goals. 

But in order to achieve them you will need the right attitude.

We all know that we are supposed to have a ‘positive attitude’ but what does it actually mean? And how do you get a ‘positive attitude’?

If asked, many people use the analogy of saying it’s seeing a glass as half full as opposed to half empty.  That’s fine. But how does that really explain what a positive attitude really is? It’s just a well worn expression.

Here’s what a positive attitude is and how to develop and maintain one.

A positive attitude is comprised of positive characteristics and qualities such as:

• Honesty, as opposed to being dishonest or a cheat
• Consideration for the feeling of others as opposed to being a bully
• Generosity as opposed to meanness
• Being able to control one’s temper as opposed to easily getting in a rage
• Enthusiasm as opposed to apathy
• Having a ‘Do it now’ approach as opposed to continually putting things off
• Humility as opposed to arrogance
• Humour as opposed to being humourless
• Looking for the good in people as opposed to constantly looking for faults
• Expecting the best as opposed to assuming the worst
• Loyalty as opposed to disloyalty
• Being trustworthy as opposed to being sly or underhand
• Truthfulness as opposed to lying
• Ambition and determination as opposed to the lack of drive and direction
• Energy as opposed to lethargy
• Showing kindness as opposed to spitefulness
• Good mannered as opposed to bad mannered
• Passion as instead of indifference
• Confidence as opposed to lack of confidence
• Courage as opposed to cowardice

No doubt you could easily add to this list.

It’s not always easy to display all these positive traits all of the time….because none of us can be that perfect, but striving to do so will have a profound effect on you and those around you. 

Positive people attract positive results.  And ‘what comes around goes around’.

So simply stated a positive attitude is the right attitude in any given circumstances.  You can change your life by changing your attitude.

To be continued…