Attitude, Change and Personal Power

A changed attitude means little if it does not impact something that you are doing. To make it real in the outside world such as with your relationships, health or commitment to excellence, REQUIRES the skills of implementation. You must participate and take action to create that which stems from your changed attitude.

Handling change and staying focused and balanced is a skill. Optimal breathing is a skill, and it is largely the vehicle for body/mind/spirit interconnectedness. Poor breathing causes thoughts to run amuck and attitudes to change inappropriately from moment to moment. Our thoughts guide us and are mostly senior to our breathing, but our breathing propels us forward either in a direct or indirect, healthy or unhealthy way. Hidden agendas often stem from unresolved emotional issues/patterns that are locked up in the body and restrict or distort the way we breathe. Many of you can relate to this I am sure.

From sickness to good health, from good health to great health, from a thin, weak restricted voice to peak performance on stage or in competition sports, once we learn to develop the optimal breath and integrate our thoughts with that -- or vice versa -- we then have the mind/body/spirit integration that feels like wholeness, ease and flow. We can then manifest our vision with maximum focus and dependability.

We CAN create the life we wish to live. The powers of focus and persistence are senior to most others -- even genius, talent and education. We still must enter the game, pay our dues and take our chances. If we do not dream big, our big dreams cannot come true. Homework, hope, hard work and opening a space (via prayer perhaps) for quantum progress are key ingredients.

Immediately following an Optimal Breathing Stress management workshop in a maximum-security prison ward of a local county jail, I was asked by one of the inmates "I feel really peaceful inside. More than I can ever recall being before. Could you tell me the significance of that?" I answered him, "If you feel anxious and angry, you will choose activities that stem from that. If you feel calm, peaceful, warm and unafraid, you will choose activities that stem from and support that way of being; it feels much better. You have the choice when you manage the way you think, act and breathe. Which would you prefer?" He smiled broadly, seeming much relieved, thanked me, and sat down.

Watch your attitude change as you get more in touch with your internal felt sense of power; your creativity and ability to stay in the zone, regardless of the circumstances. If you fail still again, know that THIS time you will recover quicker and try again and again until you succeed. The foundation of focus and persistence is in your attitude and the way you breathe. Click here for our levels of specific action steps for managing attitude, change, energy and other significant aspects of your life. Level 2 includes Level 1.

My definition of integrity is "the characteristic of having what you do and say match what you feel, believe and want." A person with a healthy attitude has integrity. Integrity needs a mind/body/spirit connection.

We need to know where we are headed and go in that direction without distraction. That requires focus. Have you ever told friends that you really wanted to do something, and their responses were to tell you why you could not, or worse, you should not? Did you just take that as opinion, or did you let it sway your decision? Sometimes folks do not want you to move forward because it leaves them behind! Can YOU let go of THEIR fear?

He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation. Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?"

Jerry replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood, or you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim, or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining, or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life."

"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.

"Yes it is," Jerry said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live life."

I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it. Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers.

While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body. I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Wanna see my scars?" I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. "The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door," Jerry replied.

"Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I could choose to die. I chose to live."

"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked.

Jerry continued, "...the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'he's a dead man'. I knew I needed to take action." "What did you do?" I asked. "Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Jerry. "She asked if I was allergic to anything. 'Yes,' I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Bullets!'" Over their laughter, I told them, "I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."

Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.

The above "Jerry" was forwarded by Ruth C., a medical student and daughter of a dear friend.

• The essence of our being is love.
• Health is inner peace.
• Giving and receiving are the same.
• We let go of the past and of the future.
• Now is the only time there is, and each instant is for giving.
• We can learn to love ourselves and others by forgiving rather than judging.
• We can become love finders rather then fault finders.
• We can choose and direct ourselves rather to be peaceful inside regardless of what is happening outside.
• We are students and teachers to each other.
• We can focus on the whole of life rather than the fragments.
• Since love is eternal, death need not be viewed as fearful.
• We are responsible for our thoughts and whatever feelings we experience.

• Breathe easily and more.
• Develop awareness and sense of self
• Don't give up, but do learn to let go.
• Make the most of the situation.
• Engage in positive self talk.
• Visualize success.
• Attack problems head-on.
• Look for the bright side.
• Maintain a sense of humor.
• Make work fun.
• Accentuate the positive.
• Keep your life in balance.
• Affirm/pray for yourself and others.

Positive energy stems from the way we breathe. If your breathing is blocked or unbalanced, so are you. Lack of synergy of a full, strong, easy and coordinated breath creates a monumental obstruction that will seriously hinder attempts at maintaining any desired attitude.

Click here for our levels of specific action steps for managing attitude, change, energy and other significant aspects of your life. Level 2 includes Level 1