Attitudes are Contagious. Are Yours Worth Catching?

By Daniel W. Trathen, D. Min. Ph. D.

There seems to be an awful lot of sickness being passed around this year. I've heard that Doctors are seeing strains of the flu unlike in recent memory. The old remedies for prevention still need to be followed: wash hands, eat well, get plenty of rest, drink plenty of liquids, and avoid areas of known illness.

Just like our body, it is very important that we protect our emotional and mental immune systems from the germs of life that infect our attitudes. Attitudes are contagious and we need to be aware that often our attitudes are kindled by the flame of others' opinions. If we surround ourselves with good company, it is easier to maintain a good attitude. Bad company corrupts good attitudes and weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character (I Corinthians 15:33). Our attitudes tend to conform to the environment we live in. Take charge of your attitude. Don't let someone else choose it for you.

Charles Swindoll once said, "The longer I live the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company . . . a church . . . a home. The remarkable thing is, we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. . . . we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. . . . we cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you . . . we are in charge of our attitudes." Sometimes we are limited more by attitude than by opportunities.

Every day we have a choice regarding the attitude we will accept. Yes, we cannot change our past. Agreed, we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. The only thing we can do is to keep a good attitude toward others and ourselves. There is an old wise saying on attitudes, "I can alter my life by altering the attitude of my mind."

Seeing ourselves as God wants us to be is a key to personal growth. Hyrum W. Smith suggests that to successfully bring about change in our lives we need to implement a system of change that is built upon three assumptions. First Assumption: We change our lives by changing the attitudes of our minds. The apostle Paul addressed this problem as it was occurring in the church in Corinth. " For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (II Corinthians 10:3-5, NIV).

Second Assumption: We become what we think about all day long. There is an often quoted Scripture in Proverbs that speaks to this transforming power of the mind, " As a man thinks in his heart, so is he…" (Proverbs 23:7a, NASB). Third Assumption: Our mind is naturally goal seeking. Our mind is always trying to accomplish something. It is a powerful tool of our personality to want to achieve goals. Our mind will set the goals that we allow it to. Lou Holtz said, "If you're bored with life - you don't get up every morning with a burning desire to do things - you don't have enough goals." The apostle Paul taught on this ultimate goal of our lives through his writing to the church in Rome. "I urge you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect" (Romans 12: 1, 2, NIV). Other Scriptures that refer to this third assumption of goals are Philippians 2:5; 4: 6-8, and Colossians 3:2. As Christians, our maturity level depends on our ability to reach this goal daily.

Everything depends on attitude. We are ambitious or lazy, enthusiastic or dull, loyal or undependable, according to our attitudes. We get good grades or poor grades - according to our attitudes. Discouragement is an attitude. Lack of discipline is an attitude. Failure to follow instructions is an attitude. It's not the situation, it's our reaction to the situation that counts in shaping our attitudes. By changing the inner attitudes of our minds, we can change the outer aspects of our lives. William James said, "It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome." Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it, for that determines our success or failure.

Attitude is the control center of our life. We can alter our lives by altering the attitudes of our minds. A good attitude produces good results, a fair attitude fair results, a poor attitude poor results. We each shape our own life, and the shape of it is determined largely by our attitude. A healthy attitude is contagious. Be a carrier. Is yours worth catching?