Monday, February 21, 2011

Attitude is made of Choices

Yesterday was a fantastic day.  I discovered a new way to make lemonade out of a lemon.

I was in sacrament meeting - I had been feeling really down on myself all day when the last speaker got up.  He said "alright, I know time is short and everyone is watching the clock, but just for a minute choose to wake up and listen."

Choose.

That's when I realized that your attitude and your emotions are choices you make.  You can choose to let something bother you, or you can choose to get over it, or even turn the situation around - making lemonade out of a lemon.  Suddenly I chose to grow up and let some of my drama take care of itself.  I wouldn't let the little things from the week get me down anymore.  This is serious, I just sat there and chose to have a good attitude . . . and it worked!  I instantly felt good.  I wasn't upset anymore about the little things that had put me in a bad mood last week.  I chose to smile, and I felt happy.

I also re-learned that people are much more approachable when they smile.  Sometimes when I'm at church I'll stand in the corner unsmiling, secretly hoping someone would come talk to me to try to cheer me up.  People don't do that.  People want to be happy, so they seek cheerful company. 

I talked to one of my guy-friends immediately after sacrament meeting - we just bumped into each other and started teasing each other; just a little flirting - nothing dramatic, but to a point where I definitely could be into him, though maybe to him it was just becoming a better friend.

As it got to be time for Sunday school to start and I started walking away from this guy to go into my class - he followed me in.  I have never seen him come to that classroom before.  He sat behind me and we talked a little more before the teacher began . . . and maybe a little during the lesson as well.  We talked about Heber and Dairy Keen - he told me he goes up there once in a while and said we should go get a shake together sometime.  I like that idea.  :)

I know I'm probably making this a bigger deal than it should be.  I'm sure that to him we're just friends, but I now have a new crush.

How does all this relate to the title of the post?  Well, this guy probably wouldn't have started talking to me if I had chosen to let him approach me while having a scowl across my face.  He talked to me because I was in a good mood.  Good things happen to people who have a positive attitude.  And my positive attitude came from the choices I made.  I chose to be happy.  He didn't approach me because I chose to talk to him, just because I chose to be happy. 

Attitude doesn't affect our choices; choices affect our attitude.

No comments:

Post a Comment