A positive attitude is a mental stance that allows the mind's thoughts, words and images to be open towards growth, expansion and success. It is a mental state that expects valuable and welcome results. A positive attitude expects to find happiness, joy, health and success in every outcome of action. Whatever the mind expects, it finds. Not everyone understands or believes in positive thinking, and often fear or talk down about a positive attitude. Yet, it seems that this subject is becoming attractive, as evidenced by the many books, lectures and courses about it. This is a subject that is gaining popularity. Positive and negative thinking are also both incredibly contagious. We all affect, and are affected by, in one way or another, the people we come in contact with. This happens naturally through thoughts and feelings transference on a subconscious level, and more obviously through word exchange, facial expressions and body language. Negative thoughts, words and attitude bring up negative and unhappy moods and actions. When the mind is negative, toxins are released into the blood, which cause more unhappiness and negativity. This is one way ticket to failure, frustration and disappointment. Staying upbeat can be challenging when things aren’t going well. It is one thing to hear someone say: "Think positive!", to someone who feels down and worried. But for many putting this into action is very difficult. Changing Your Attitude Everyone maintains an ongoing inner dialogue with themselves known as “self talk.” These internal remarks can be negative or positive and also do profoundly affect self esteem. Negative thought: “I’m so stupid for failing that test” vs. a Positive thought, “I’ll study harder next time.” 1. Learn how to recognize your style of self talk and whether it is helping or hurting you. If your internal dialogue is negative, think of ways that you can rephrase the negative thought into something positive at the time you notice it. Replace “I’m a loser” with “I’m learning how to improve.” This exercise takes self-awareness, practice, and time. 2. Instead of predicting impending doom (i.e complaining that layoffs are unavoidable and worrying about how you’ll pay the bills if you lose your job, shift your focus to what you can do to better the situation now, (such updating your resume and starting a new job search.) Focusing on problems and not their potential solutions can negatively affect your anxiety level. 3. Another related negative thought process is when you blame others for a problem. By shifting the blame, you are avoiding responsibility, and you are less likely to change. Blaming the traffic for being late and causing you to rush through the exam is easier than admitting you were not prepared for passing it in the first place. 4. Being overly dramatic or turning everything into a disaster or a tragedy is also another negative thought. By turning unfortunate events into a catastrophe of epic proportions you are creating anger, frustration, sadness, fear which all put a lot of stress on your mind and body. Step back and reassess the situation. Is it really a disaster or merely an inconvenience? So, in a nutshell, be realistic, and most of all be flexible to change. Changing your belief systems and your thought processes takes time, practice and conscious effort. Counseling and Psychotherapy can help. But, it's up to you. The result is a happy, fulfilling , successful life.