From: L. Michael Hall
2022 Neurons #32
August 8, 2022
Super-charging Your Attitude #8
PICK AN ATTITUDE,
ANY ATTITUDE
Knowing that you can choose an attitude, develop it, be coached for it,
super-charge it, etc. what attitudes would you like to plan to add to your
personal repertoire of attitudes which will, in turn, enrich your life? Now
that you know that you can meta-state an attitude into existence, you know
that you are not stuck with or in your attitudes-they are yours, you create
them and you can recreate them. So what attitudes would you like to
develop and set in your mind (in your meta place)?
Courage Resilience Optimism
Playfulness
Seeing opportunities
Seizing opportunities Openness Humor
Magnanimity
Forgiveness Humility Patience
Self-reliance
Entrepreneurship Appreciation Authenticity
Bias for action
Uninsultable Decisive Disciplined
There is the attitude for learning. It is an attitude of being curious and
playful, of being open and receptive, it is an attitude of wanting to know
and to discover. While that may sound mundane, that is actually an
incredibly powerful attitude to have. It is the secret ingredient in
successful people and creative people who live on the cutting-edge of new
developments. If you have a closed attitude, "I have learned enough." "I
already know that!" "What else is there to learn?" you cut yourself off
from the human adventure itself.
There is the attitude of experimenting. This is an attitude of trying
things to see what happens, it is an adventurous spirit that keeps you
learning, keeps you young at heart. It is the epitome of the scientific
attitude itself. This leads to more tentative attitudes about the
assertions we make and less rigidity about our beliefs. And that, in turn,
leads to being more reasonable with each other and more humble in our
approach.
There is the descriptive attitude. This attitude drives expert
communicators, researchers, and inventors. Their attitude is always to seek
to describe precisely and specifically whatever presents itself as it
presents itself to the experiencing observer. This attitude results in as
much "objectivity" as is possible for us subjective-thinkers and feelers.
There is the ecological attitude. As described in NLP, this attitude is
about being holistic and integrative, about thinking and working
systemically.
There is the empowerment or enrichment attitude. This attitude is governed
by the question and focus, "Is this empowering? Will this enrich life?
Will this bring you closer?" It is an attitude that leads to an active
style of responding because one thinks, "I can always do something; I am
never a victim at the mercy of outside forces. If I can't change the
outside world, I can always adjust my attitude on the inside." Consequently
this enables a more tough-minded attitude about life.
There is the compassionate and caring attitude. This is an attitude that
sees others first as people, as human being, and only later in terms of
roles, status, position, views, skin color, etc.
It operates from the principle of equality of persons, mutuality, and a
win/win attitude. It is the attitude of the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as
you want them to do unto you" (Matthew 7:12).
There is, of course, the positive optimistic attitude. This is the attitude
of looking for the silver lining in things, for solutions, for strengths,
for win/win deals. This is the attitude of approaching life with a yes
which then enables you to embrace life rather than fight it.
There is the attitude of ownership of one's attitude. Viktor Frankl said
this is "the ultimate freedom," the freedom to choose your own attitude.
"If one cannot change a situation that causes his suffering, he can still
choose his attitude." (Frankl, 1984, p. 148).
There is the paradoxical attitude. This is a fun one and can be both
shocking and delightfully surprising. Counter-intuitively your attitude to
is embrace the very thing that your first response is to reject. Strange
enough, frequently that then becomes the solution. The very symptom that we
want to get away from only goes away after you embrace it. This has been
proven true so often that, in therapy, it is called "prescribing the
symptom." And, as a paradoxical intervention, it emerges from a
meta-stating process.
And what else? There is the attitude of acceptance, of acknowledging what
is. The attitude of
creative and positive defiance when standing up stubbornly for a value or
belief can make a difference. There is the attitude of cheerfulness and
appreciation. There is the philosophical attitude wherein you recognize and
accept the limitations of life. There is the attitude of good will. There
are dozens upon dozens of attitudes that you could choose that would upgrade
the very quality of your life and they are there, in your meta place, just
waiting for you!
L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.
ISNS Executive Director
P.O. Box 8
Clifton Colorado 81520 USA
