Each of us are made up of various physical, vital, and mental parts. There is our physical body and its organs, muscles, etc; the vital being with its sensations, emotions and feelings, and the mental part with its thoughts, memories, reasoning power, beliefs, etc. Somewhere between our emotions and our thought processing lie our attitudes -- our emotional perceptions about life, about others, even towards our own selves. Attitudes generally express positively and negatively. E.g. when we have good feelings towards our work or towards others, the attitude is positive. When we feel reluctant to do certain things that are necessary, or show hostility towards certain individuals, then our attitude is negative.
Interestingly, if we can identify a bad attitude and make the effort to change it, we will find that life will cooperate with our inner efforts, bringing us instances of sudden good fortune.
Consider this true-life incident.
- A salesperson was intimidated about meeting a very large customer. He felt that the effort was a waste of time since the company was too large and would be too hard to penetrate. Needless to say, he did not get that or any other sale with the client. However, a number of months later, he changed his attitude about working with such large accounts. The very next day, he was stunned when that very same large customer, who turned him down earlier, gave him a huge order!
As we can see, if we change our attitudes, life has a funny way of responding to our efforts. We call this phenomenon "life response." When we change our attitudes, or otherwise elevate our consciousness, life quickly responds thereafter with miraculous-like instances of good fortune.
Attitudes About Ourselves, Others, Life
Though we have many attitudes about all aspects of life, if we look a little closer we can identify three basic types -- those that have to do with ourselves, those we have about others and the objects around us, and those we have towards life itself.
An example of a negative attitude about us is having low self-esteem, or low self-confidence. An example of a wanting attitude about others is feeling ill will towards another person, or being mistrustful of others. An example of a negative attitude towards life is being pessimistic that things will never turn out well. The good news however is that if we change any negative attitude to the positive, life tends to quickly respond.
Consider this true story, where a person changed her attitude about certain people:
- A woman was working as a temporary employee for a large medical organization. For months, she complained about certain coworkers at her job. At the time, she had decided to develop a 30-day plan to secure a full-time position. One part of her plan was to change her attitude toward these particular individuals. In the days that followed, she persisted in following her plan, especially focusing on her wanting attitude toward others. She was shocked however when a month into her plan, she was suddenly asked to work for the organization full time -- her first non-temporary job in nearly a decade!
That is the power of changing a negative attitude toward others.
Here is another incident, this time narrated by a friend of ours from Asia:
- "In our unit there was a supervisor whom I felt was indifferent, insubordinate, and had to be punished. I was looking for an opportunity to pin him down. A time came to do so, and I dismissed him mercilessly. Within two days of his dismissal, there was a major breakdown in one of the machines.
- The supplier of the machine had sent their engineers. They struggled for 7 days and could do very little to set right the machine. I was thoroughly disgusted. I started examining my attitudes on several fronts during the last 10 days.
- It struck to me that whenever I am in the position to do so, my attitude is to dominate another person. In this case, I was able to dominate the supervisor and dismiss him mercilessly. But in the case of the machine, I could not afford to throw it away and replace it with a new machine; so I tolerated it. Based on my previous knowledge of the subtle workings of life, I understood at that point that I had to change my attitude.
- I then called back the supervisor, apologized for my rude action, and requested that he continue in the company. He felt very happy. It was then striking that the machine that had been out of commission until then, now unexpectedly got fixed. In fact, there haven’t been any serious troubles with any of the machines since then!"
As we can see, when we overcome a negative attitude towards others, life tends to respond with instant good fortune. Machines that had broken down suddenly start working, late projects suddenly are completed on time, negative situations dissolve, employment comes our way out of nowhere, cash unexpectedly moves in our direction, and so forth. It is the miracle of life response in action!
Negative Expressions Attracts Negative Response
So far we have indicated that changing a negative attitude can attract sudden instances of good fortune. Inversely, if we take to a negative attitude, we can attract instances of bad fortune.
For example, if we speak negatively about another person, it is likely that problematic circumstances will arise.
- At the annual gathering of the company's employees, prizes were being given out to the staff. One of the employees watching the proceedings hoped to win one of the larger prizes. When the biggest prize was announced, the winner scurried to pick it up from the host. However, the woman watching the proceedings was bitterly disappointed that she did not win. It also turned out that several weeks earlier she had a run in with the very person who had now won the prize, adding to her current bitterness. When this woman arrived back at her home later on that night, she received word that her son had suddenly fallen into very difficult straits.
Here's another example of how life responds negatively to a wanting attitude.
- A man "A" met a fellow instructor "B" before a class he was to perform that day. One of the things they discussed were problems they had experienced in earlier classes. In particular, A kept talking about how the students at a certain client were particularly difficult to work with. He persisted in expressing his feelings. Though that instructor rarely had problems with his students, later on that day, as well as in the next two classes, he had a series of difficulties with his students!
As we see, when we express negative sentiment in life -- whether it is ill will towards certain individuals or complaining about situations -- we tend to elicit ill fortune. The best approach then is to avoid all negative expressions or complaining about others. In our moment-to-moment activities, we need to be mindful of our thoughts and feelings, and catch any negative expression -- whether it is a flawed attitude, a limited opinion, or a hasty, reflexive reaction.
This is indeed serious business, because such expressions can literally destroy a work, as we see in the following incident:
- An instructor had lined up a training class for the near future. Several days before the class, he was focusing on his work. However, at one point, he got sidetracked and sent an email to someone, in which he disparaged a prominent thinker. At that point, his energies were far removed from the important work that needed his attention that day. In the middle of writing that note, he received a call from his contact canceling the upcoming work.
As we see, negative expressions, feelings, opinions, etc. can actually cancel or destroy a work. From this situation, we see that it is best then to catch these negative expressions before they rise so that we can avoid the sudden arrival of ill fortune.
The Power of an Overall Positive Attitude
In addition to having the right attitudes towards others and life around us, it is always best to have an overall positive attitude.
Here's another real-life incident to show you what I mean:
- A management consultant was hoping to have a key meeting with the principle officers of a company with over $100 billion in assets. For days, he fretted about the deal as the potential client failed to contact him. He developed greater and greater doubts that the meeting would ever take place. Finally, he remembered that it was important to have a positive attitude in these situations. He decided to change his attitude about the potential meeting from worry and concern to being positive. A very short time later, he was contacted by the client that the meeting could in fact take place. He was thrilled. In addition, years of high-level consulting work followed with the client!
That is the power of having a generally positive attitude.
Now consider this journal entry of an audio-video retail chain owner, who was in the process of conducting sales meetings. Fortunately, in this incident, described in the owner's journal, he was aware of the importance of having a positive attitude.
- "-around 4pm my energy starts to sap, I start to feel sorry for my self and wonder how I will last the day. I decide to reverse my attitude and say, "there is no room for this behavior you must push on and go to work." In the very next sales interview D reports he just sold for $18,000!!' [A huge amount for one of these salespeople.]
- -I have a meeting with G, an important audio salesperson. We work through a system to get him committed and productive. We discuss the fact that he must commit. During the meeting, I am conscious of my attitude that is negative about our chances of success. I struggle to reverse them with luke warm results. We are then interrupted as the store is then filled with customers, and a good one for that salesperson to boot!!"
An overall positive attitude has the power to attract sudden good fortune from the world around us. We have also seen that when difficult circumstances come your way, and you do not get overwrought by them, maintaining a positive calm, life can suddenly reverse and cancel the problem or otherwise bring sudden instances of good fortune.
Here is an astounding true story of the benefit of remaining positive and calm in the face of adversity.
- "We have our business unit in a space that we rent out from others. One day the owner of our rented space picked an argument with our own manager, apparently without a valid reason. As a result of the dispute, the owner threatened to terminate our lease for the space we rent. As it turned out, I was away during the time these events were taking place.
- Naturally, all of the workers, including my manager, were agitated -- so much so, that they wanted me to take appropriate legal action against the owner of the space we were renting. However, I decided not to react to the intensity of the situation, and, instead, decided to remain calm and composed. In fact, I told the workers as well as the manager to also be calm, and to concentrate instead on their work. I myself continued to function in a normal fashion, as if nothing had happened.
- After examination, the doctors revealed that the child had a hole in his heart, and that he had to be operated on immediately. The operation was going to cost around two lacs of rupees [~5000 US dollars]. Unfortunately, the owner did not have two-pennies to pay for this very expensive operation. I then spoke to a bank manager and arranged financing from the bank. The loan was secured based solely on my personal guarantee. The bank also took an undertaking from the owner that he would not evict my company on any grounds for the next five years.
In the end, we see how his positive right attitude of calm and equality not only led to the cancellation of the eviction, not only led to the intense appreciation and goodwill of the owner, but had saved the life of a small child. When we maintain a positive attitude in the face of adversity or shift from a negative attitude to a positive one, life has a way of cooperating with us from all quarters. It is the miracle of life response in action.
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