One of the most involving discussions we had in our ‘Saturday Special’ was on attitude and positive thinking. It was sparked off by my rather casual introductory comment that the finest outcome of having a positive attitude is that you begin to think positive. The discussion went a bit overboard as a raging debate ensued whether positive thinking was an outcome of positive attitude or is it the other way round? Is it possible to have negative thinking and a positive attitude? Is it possible to train oneself to think positive or learn to have a positive attitude? We had to wait till the next session for everyone to calm down and have a meaningful discussion. We decided that for our purpose it does not make a difference as long as we ensure that we have a positive frame of mind because negative attitude and negative thinking can be major hurdles in the way of happiness and success.

Remember, successful people take their sunshine along wherever they go. As Robert Hastings said, “Places and circumstances never guarantee happiness. You must decide within yourself whether you want to be happy. And once you have decided, happiness comes much easier.” It boils down to ownership again. You decide. You fashion your own environment with your thoughts, your beliefs, your philosophy, your attitude and above all by your actions.

People who will be successful do not wait to feel positive before they act. They act and feel good about having acted. You can see people’s attitude only through their actions. In that sense attitude follows action. Once you get into the action mode you will begin to have positive thoughts. People who start of with negative thoughts for whatever reason are crippled by fear. The only remedy for fear is action. Action cures fear. Action leads to positive thoughts. Positive thoughts lead to positive attitude. You see it comes full circle. So we need not worry whether positive attitude comes first or positive thinking. For people who want to be successful action comes first and everything else follows and everything falls in place. Your action will start a chain reaction and slowly you will exude confidence, energy and positive attitude making you very attractive.