Experiment with a new attitude
I had two interesting unintentional attitude experiments last week. I went to an improv class and the theme was emotions. While we were playing a scene, someone from the audience would clap, say, “Stop!” and call out an emotion. Then we had to start talking again from the exact sentence we were speaking while embodying a new emotion.
It was great practice for learning to switch emotions and attitudes quickly. After class, when we were talking, I was more aware of my manner and the habitual emotion/attitude that I have when I interact with people. It was really interesting to notice that it IS a habit!
Later in the week, I was feeling sad, I had talked to my mom on the phone. I got another phone call and thinking it was her, I answered with a glum, “hello.” It was a friend calling to give me free concert tickets! I felt really embarrassed about my glum hello and perked my voice up to my habitual cheerful attitude. It was interesting to notice the instant shift!
The interaction between attitudes and emotions is interesting. I was still sad, but could act cheerful. I didn’t want to feel sad anymore and I had to talk some things out with a couple people to actually feel better, but I could act with a different attitude right away, and the perkier attitude did help me on the path to feeling better.
Link:
I like the article titled “Attitude is Everything” by Ryan Eliason.
Have you heard the saying, “Attitude Is Everything”? While attitude might not really be “everything”, it is the single most significant determining factor of success in many situations. Here’s how it works:
Change your attitude and you automatically change:
1. your perspective
2. the way you interpret things
3. the decisions you make
4. the actions you take
5. the results you get
…
People tend to think of an attitude as being simply positive or negative. However, there are infinite possibilities such as: warm, friendly, confident, determined, unstoppable, silly, playful, easy-going, outrageous, peaceful, open-minded, compassionate, optimistic, and all of their negative counterparts. You can ultimately become very creative and experiment with different attitudes for different situations, which will lead you to being more powerful and effective….Here’s the problem. We often think it’s hard or impossible to change our attitudes, so we don’t try. ..
We also tend to think of our attitudes as part of our identities. We think, “It’s just the way I am.” We tend to think of our personalities as static things….
While our personalities, and the attitudes that go with them, may appear to be somewhat static, they only appear that way because we keep making the same choices (often unconsciously) over and over again, moment to moment. The truth is that you can change “who you’re being”, and you can change your attitude, at any moment.
To read his tips for shifting your attitude, check out the full article at his site.
I learned some of the same ideas for changing attitudes that he mentions and have tried several of them. A few years ago I wanted a more playful attitude and I experimented by asking myself, “What is funny in this situation?” I also put myself in a playful setting by taking an improv classes.
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