POSITIVE ATTITUDE

Positive attitude helps to cope more easily with the daily affairs of life. It brings optimism into our life, and makes it easier to avoid worry and negative thinking. If we adopt it as a way of life, it will bring constructive changes into your life, and makes them happier, brighter and more successful. With a positive attitude one sees the bright side of life, become optimstic and expect the best to happen. It is certainly a state of mind that is well worth developing and strengthening.

Positive attitude manifests in the following ways:
- Positive thinking.
- Constructive thinking.
- Creative thinking.
- Expecting success.
- Optimism.
- Motivation to accomplish your goals.
- Being inspired.
- Choosing happiness.
- Not giving up.
- Looking at failure and problems as blessings in disguise.
- Believing in yourself and in your abilities.
- Displaying self-esteem and confidence.
- Looking for solutions.
- Seeing opportunities.
A positive attitude leads to happiness and success and can change our whole life. If we look at the brighter side of life, our whole life becomes filled with light. This light affects not only us and the way we look at the world, but also our whole environment and the people around us. If it is strong enough, it becomes contagious.
THE BENEFITS OF A POSITIVE ATTITUDE:
- Helps achieving goals and attaining success.
- Success achieved faster and more easily.
- More happiness.
- More energy.
- Greater inner power and strength.
- The ability to inspire and motivate yourself and others.
- Fewer difficulties encountered along the way.
- The ability to surmount any difficulty.
- Life smiles at you.
- People respect you.
Negative attitude says: you cannot achieve success.
Positive attitude says: You can achieve success.

DEVELOPING A POSITIVE ATTITUDE THAT WILL LEAD YOU TO HAPPINESS AND SUCCESS:
- Choose to be happy.
- Look at the bright side of life.
- Choose to be and stay optimistic.
- Find reasons to smile more often.
- Have faith in yourself and in the Power of the Universe.
- Contemplate upon the futility of negative thinking and worries.
- Associate yourself with happy people.
- Read inspiring stories.
- Read inspiring quotes.
- Repeat affirmations that inspire and motivate you.
- Visualize only what you want to happen.
- Learn to master your thoughts.
- Learn concentration and meditation.

POSITIVE THINKING TIPS FOR A POSITIVE ATTITUDE
- First, focus on what you're thinking about. Remember what I said about being stuck because we never addressed the source? Our negative actions and words are coming from our negative thoughts. Our body, including the mouth, has no choice but to follow wherever our mind goes.
It is possible to control our thoughts, regardless of what we've been led to believe. As soon as a negative thought comes into your mind, purposefully make it a point to replace it with a positive one. (2 Corinthians 10:5) At first, this may take some work, because chances are, we will probably have a lot more negative thoughts in our head than positive ones. But eventually, the ratio will reverse itself.
- Second, stop letting other people's negative attitudes influence yours. This may mean we need to stop hanging around with people who do nothing but spout negative stuff. We can't afford to do this when our goal is to become more positive. The negative people in our life aren't going to like it when we stop participating in negativity. Just remember that birds of a feather really do flock together.
- Third, make a list of all the areas in your life that you want to change. List all your negative attitudes too. If you can't think of things to put on your list, just ask your family.
- Fourth, take some time to write strong, life-giving, positive affirmation statements. Make a commitment to read those statements out loud every day. Enjoy how great they make you feel. Know in your heart that you're making progress, even if you can't see it just yet. Just keep affirming the positive.
- Lastly, take time to pray about this. You can't change by yourself. But you can spend time with the One who is able to help. Do what you can, and let God do the rest.
This process will change how we think and that's the real key to changing how we act. Remember, the body will follow wherever the mind goes. There is no way to separate the two; so we might as well "program in" what we want, instead of randomly leaving it to chance.
Just know that God's version of a right attitude contains nothing negative. And if we want God's best for our life, it starts with right thoughts — his thoughts to be exact.

KEY EXAMPLES OF POSITIVE AFFIRMATION (SELF-TALK):
- I will think of myself as Successful!
- I will have positive expectations for everything I do!
- I will remind myself of past successes!
- I will not dwell on failures, I just will not repeat them!
- I will surround myself with positive people and ideas!

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
“The capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, and for managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships.”
The term encompasses the following five characteristics and abilities:
- Self-awareness--knowing your emotions, recognizing feelings as they occur, and discriminating between them. It is fundamental to emotional intelligence. People who know their feelings are better pilots of their lives.
- Mood management--handling feelings so they're relevant to the current situation and you react appropriately. People who are effective in managing their emotions can cope better with life's adversities and can bounce back faster than those who are poor in managing their feelings.
- Self-motivation--"gathering up" your feelings and directing yourself towards a goal, despite self-doubt, inertia, and impulsiveness. People without emotional intelligence lack self-restraint and would just do whatever their impulses suggest. In Goleman’s words, they "suffer a moral deficiency". Emotional self-control, delaying gratification and stifling impulsiveness underlies accomplishment of every sort.
- Empathy--recognizing feelings in others and tuning into their verbal and nonverbal cues. Emotional self-awareness is the first step to empathic sensitivity. In other words, if we are in touch with our own feelings, then we can empathise with others and sense their needs.
- Managing relationships--handling interpersonal interaction, conflict resolution, and negotiations. The art of relating to others includes the skill in managing emotions in others. For example, the ability to calm distressing emotions in others can help resolve many conflicts.

WHY DO WE NEED EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE?
Research in brain-based learning suggests that emotional health is fundamental to effective learning. According to a report from the National Center for Clinical Infant Programs, the most critical element for a student's success in school is an understanding of how to learn. The key ingredients for this understanding are:
- Confidence
- Curiosity
- Intentions
- Self-control
- Relatedness
- Capacity to communicate
- Ability to cooperate
These traits are all aspects of Emotional Intelligence. Basically, a student who learns to learn is much more apt to succeed. Emotional Intelligence has proven a better predictor of future success than traditional methods like the GPA, IQ, and standardized test scores.
Hence, the great interest in Emotional Intelligence on the part of corporations, universities, and schools nationwide. The idea of Emotional Intelligence has inspired research and curriculum development throughout these facilities. Researchers have concluded that people who manage their own feelings well and deal effectively with others are more likely to live content lives. Plus, happy people are more apt to retain information and do so more effectively than dissatisfied people.
Building one's Emotional Intelligence has a lifelong impact. Many parents and educators, alarmed by increasing levels of conflict in young schoolchildren--from low self-esteem to early drug and alcohol use to depression, are rushing to teach students the skills necessary for Emotional Intelligence. And in corporations, the inclusion of Emotional Intelligence in training programs has helped employees cooperate better and motivate more, thereby increasing productivity and profits.
HIGH EQ PEOPLE:
1. Label their feelings, rather than labeling people or situations.
"I feel impatient." vs "This is ridiculous."
"I feel hurt and bitter" vs "You are an insensitive jerk."
"I feel afraid." vs. "You are driving like a idiot."
2. Distinguish between thoughts and feelings.
Thoughts: I feel like...& I feel as if.... & I feel that
3. Take responsibility for their feelings.
"I feel jealous." vs. "You are making me jealous."
4. Use their feelings to help them make decisions.
"How will I feel if I do this?" "How will I feel if I don't"
5. Show respect for other people's feelings.
They ask "How will you feel if I do this?" "How will you feel if I don't."
6. Feel energized, not angry.
They use what others call "anger" to help them feel energized to take productive action.
7. Validate other people's feelings.
They show empathy, understanding, and acceptance of other people's feelings.
8. Practice getting a positive value from their negative emotions.
They ask themselves: "How do I feel?" and "What would help me feel better?"
They ask others "How do you feel?" and "What would help you feel better?"
9. Don't advise, command, control, criticize, judge or lecture to others.
They realize it doesn't feel good to be on the receiving end of such behavior, so they avoid it.
10. Avoid people who invalidate them, or don't respect their feelings.
As much as possible, they choose to associate only with other people with high EQ.

CULTIVATING YOUR EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
- Be in touch with your own feelings. Find time to be alone, know yourself and write down your thoughts.
- Do not deny your feelings. Recognize that feelings are not sins. Where needed, share your feelings with others. However, sharing with others does not mean total honesty in sharing all your thoughts and feelings on any subject or person.
· Know the maturity of your potential confidant ... can he or she handle what you will be sharing?
· Exercise caution in revealing feelings or facts that may hurt others.
- Do not allow your feelings to dictate your behaviour. Set your own criteria on what you should and should not do (based on biblical principles and values). It is important to establish principles beforehand as to what to do when caught in such situations because emotions may dominate your being and rational thoughts go out the window!
-Live by faith in God and His word.