How Our Attitudes Shape the World Around Us--Our Reality

"Attitude is all." What exactly do I mean by that? This is a saying that has been around for quite awhile; it was definitely not originated by me. Most are familiar with sayings such as: "to cop an attitude; he/she "has a bad attitude"; "I don't like your attitude," etc., etc. These are all examples of negative attitudes; examples of comments regarding positive attitudes also exist. It is always a relief to deal with someone who has a "good attitude," but let's deal with the negative types first. Attitudes reflect our expectations, which, frequently, reflect what we have experienced--and 'round and 'round it goes.

The definition of "attitude," we are dealing with here is: "an organismic state of readiness to respond in a characteristic way to a stimulus (as an object, concept, or situation)." In, other words, it is a habitual way of responding; if it is habitual, it has become a part of how we relate to the world. This is a major way we create our daily reality.

The world will mirror us; if we project a negative threatening or defensive attitude, what will usually be reflected back at us will be a mirror opposite. If it is threatening, it will elicit a defensive, or a counter, threatening response. If one's attitude is defensive, or fearful, our mirror will be likely to respond with an aggressive attitude. A good example of this is a dog's response to someone who is afraid of dogs; most dogs will growl at someone who is afraid of them. Someone who is not afraid of dogs, will rarely elicit an aggressive response; it is a mistake however to expect the world to not serve up surprises. These surprises can be thought of as the "spice of life," or "lesson time."

One must not be too sure of what the world will feed back to you. I will never forget a story told to me by someone whom I worked for, a big, chunky guy. He said that, when he was young, he had been a bully; there was one particular small kid in his grade whom he enjoyed picking on. One day, when he was amusing himself by tormenting this victim, the boy came out of his defensive corner attacking. He, my employer, said that it was clear that this kid intended to do his best to kill him, and he retreated. My employer, stated that he never, ever tried to bully anyone after that--he had learned a life lesson--the lesson was of the "cornered rat," response.

But, back to our main subject; I had a friend who absolutely rejected the idea that we create our own reality. She considered herself to be a "warrior"; she wasn't about to take any s... from anyone. Guess what; she was getting s... from a lot of people she dealt with. She said to me one day, "don't you think people are really angry lately?" I said, "no" I didn't think so. She was a very attractive blond; with a nice smile, and a pleasant attitude, she could have achieved what most attractive blondes attract, because it's their birthright, don't-you-know? She was also an astrologer, and her chart indicated she was in "Saturn return," (Saturn is in the same place on your chart that it was when you were born.) an astrological position which can be a rerun of events that need to be worked on again. Since she had almost died during the previous "return," she thought it very possible that she would die this time around. This, then, is an example of a life attitude that is, almost guaranteed, to bring you no end of grief, and, so it was.

I have had friends who, seemingly, could not get along with their housemates/landlord/land-ladies, and, as a result, were frequently looking for a new place to live; she was one of those friends.

Contrary-wise, those individuals who have a good/happy/loving/positive attitude will usually bring out a more positive response in the individuals they deal with. Individuals who are strong/powerful in who they are, even if it is only a temporary mental state, usually will present a positive, but blank mirror; one on which you can project whatever you wish. What a person with a negative attitude may perceive may be a mirror opposite of what he/she is projecting, but, generally, the more powerful/strong personality will pull out a more neutral or a positive response.

When a strong/powerful personality comes into a room, that individual will pull out his/her dominant energy from those already present--if it is positive, the energy in the room will shift to the positive; if it is negative, the energy will shift to the negative. In general, most individuals are more comfortable with others who share a similar attitude/energy, which, of course, reinforces their projections of what is real for them; their reality.

So many individuals are on their own personal merry-go-round, unfortunately, usually it is not "merry." To stop the merry-go-round you are on, so that you can get off--requires you to change your attitude toward life.

The primary, first step, to accomplish this is to know and acknowledge what your attitudes/expectations are. Here, again, keeping a personal Journal to jot down fleeting thoughts and ideas, when they arise, is necessary, so they can be focused on, and thought about, later. Our minds, being the wild beasts they are, makes it necessary to write them down, as mind goes plunging on its merry way after some other fleeting thing. We all have aspects of ourselves that would rather not change; would rather not examine how we are in the world, and, decidedly, does not want to take responsibility for ourselves, and how we relate to and in the world.

In order to change your attitude(s), requires that you, at minimum, accept the possibility that you, yourself, may be playing a role in what you experience. This is harder to do when your early life experiences may have, literally, pounded them into you.

And so ends today's blog.

Shirley Gallup