Loose the ATTITUDE!

Loose the Attitude!

     I am the mother of children 26, 17, 18 and 11years old. Let me tell you about attitude. At my house attitude usually starts at about 6:30 a.m. and doesn’t end until the last eye closes at about 1:00 a.m. I started to think that I am finally approaching the age when there will be less of this in my life but last night I was reminded by a call from my eldest daughter and her husband that I now have walking, talking grandchildren and they are ready to just start on their attitude journey.  The good news is that they live in their house and I in mine and they are the parents and I am just a grandparent.  My daughter called me hysterical to tell me that they were watching a new television show where the TV father was being asked by the daughter for $20.00 to go buy coffee.  I guess most of us have heard this from one side of the fence or the other.  I know many of you in class are young and are probably on the asking side where I am on the wallet side which always seems to be empty partially since the opening of Starbucks. Anyway the father is telling the girl that she does not really need expensive coffee.  When hearing this my 2 year old granddaughter , knowing her mothers star bucks habit and always hearing her father say make coffee at home, approached her father and said “hey dad, sorry but mom and I need our FREEKIN coffee so please stop complaining”. Note, at 2 my granddaughter needs her vanilla star bucks milk in the morning also.

     Well anyway there are also good types of attitude that we can discuss. Attitude can be one of the most important qualities that a person carries with them each day.  Your attitude can project a wealth of information about you to people you come in contact with. Most people who know me say that I have an overall good attitude.  I try to convey this as part of my persona.  I do not get angry or bent out of shape much.  I try to take everyday events with a grain of salt.  What is a bad attitude going to get you anyway? For example today I was talking with a neighbor who stopped me to ask a question. We live on a dirt road and there was plenty of room to pass since I had not even left my property yet.  A vehicle approached behind the person I was talking to.  The man passed very upset and totally turned his head to make sure that my neighbor saw that he was angry with him.  Now no matter how hard I try I cannot think of that man the same as I had previously passing each other on our road. What did this get him? Nothing as far as I know except two people who now will never respect him again.

     Here is a quote that we should all try to incorporate in our day to day lives.

“Whenever you’re in conflict with someone, there is one factor that can make the difference between damaging your relationship and deepening it. The factor is attitude.”

William James