CHOOSE

We choose our attitudes. They don’t choose us, we choose them. Nobody wants to be told that, but it’s true. Your attitude problem is right in the mirror. Until we embrace that fact, we’ll never choose differently.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could say: 'It's my mom's attitude I got? It's my dad's fault I'm this way. It's my boss ... it's my neighbor ... it's my circumstances.' No. Your problem is in the mirror.

Attitudes are patterns of thinking about life formed over long periods of time. And while these attitudes are influenced by our family and by others, we still do the choosing.

Negative attitudes are hard to change because they are habitual, longstanding, harmful ways of thinking about life ... patterns so deeply ingrained, we hardly even notice them after awhile. We get so used to reacting in certain ways that our choices practically become automatic - and in time we stop seeing them as actual choices. Tragically, the consequences are also automatic.

We choose our attitudes. We can't change them until we admit we chose them.

And be blessed.