We have all heard the platitudes about having a Positive Mental Attitude, (PMA).

There is no question that there is a direct connection between your attitude and your health. The key is to learn to control your attitude rather than have your attitude control you.

In his book, The Biology of Belief, Dr. Bruce Lipton does an excellent job at describing the connection between your core thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes and the function of the cells of your body. It has been irrefutably proven that the resonance of your thoughts, the frequency of the energy pattern of your thoughts, plays a major role in the function of your cells.

Every emotion and every thought has a measurable frequency. Emotions and thoughts of love and gratitude resonate at a frequency that brings about balance of all the cellular functions of the body. Thoughts of hate and resentment do the exact opposite. (An amazing example of this effect is explained in Dr. Emoto’s book, Messages from Water.)

Studies conducted to understand how the body responds to stress have consistently found that those subjects who were able to focus on the “up-side” of any given situation, especially if they were able to maintain an “Attitude of Gratitude”, were far better able to adapt to the stressors. The question many people have is, “Ok, how do I change my attitude?” The short answer is, “Practice.”

There are a few things to consider first.

1. Learn to see any situation for what it really is.

Situations are simply a series of facts. What those facts mean is completely up to the interpretation of the individual. Another way to state this is that, “Nothing has any meaning except for the meaning you place upon it.” Have you ever experienced something with a friend and revisited the situation later to find that you each had a completely different interpretation or view of the same situation? The different interpretation is based upon your view through the lens of your own experience and world view. If you have ever been in a group where a comment was made and one person was gravely offended, while another laughed hysterically? If you want to change your attitude, it helps to examine your world view. Do you see yourself as someone who always has things happen to them or do you make things happen in your world? Do you see the world as a mean place that constantly challenges your survival instincts or is it a beautiful place filled with unlimited opportunity? These fundamental world views will set the resonance pattern for your dominant thoughts.

2. You control your thoughts.

We all have a little voice that speaks to us all the time. It’s the little voice that said, “What if they say no?” the first time you thought of asking your first infatuation on a date. It’s the little voice that said, “You’re not smart enough to take that class.” or, “You’re not fast enough to make that team.” Or “You aren’t as good at painting as that person.” Whatever the sentence…it’s the little voice that makes you feel smaller than you really are. We ALL have that little voice. It’s necessary for our survival because it warns us of danger. The problem is that it warns us all the time and never shuts-up! But who controls the voice? YOU DO! The trick is to first Notice that it’s squawking. Then Choose and finally… ACT. What keeps most people spinning in the same rut is that they don’t notice the little voice. They are too busy reacting to it. One of the most empowering realizations you can experience is that YOU GET TO CHOOSE. You may not be able to control all the events surrounding you in your life but you do get to choose how you are going to react to them and how you will allow them to affect you. (To see a powerful example of this principle in action watch the movie, It’s a Beautiful Life.)

3. There are no victims.

This is a very challenging concept for most people to wrap their brains around. Here is the rationale for the above statement. Whatever has happened, never just “happened.” It was the result of a series of decisions that led to a series of actions that ended in a result. Only a victim would claim that, “it just happened to me” or “That always happens to me.”

Now, are there innocent people who have terrible things happen to them? Of Course there are. Think of the World Trade Center. All those people did was get up in the morning to go to work and ended up in a tragic situation. That type of thing is a rarity in our daily experience, however. They could truly be classified as people who were cruelly victimized. Barring that type of extreme scenario, however, what most people feel victimized by is a matter of faulty perception. As it applies to health, you will find that your condition will improve the moment you take full responsibility for your situation and realize that the only person who can heal you is you. Doctors, therapist, shamans, priest, etc. can not help you. They can only facilitate your healing. Taking responsibility for your health situation doesn’t necessarily mean you’re to blame…in fact blame is an emotion of a victim…it simply means that you are going to confront what IS and take responsibility for its outcome. Giving up the roll of victim is not always easy and you may catch yourself slipping back into the familiar pattern (we have all been there at some point in life) but once you stop that way of being, life becomes a wholly new and empowering experience.

4. Your brain can only hold one thought at a time…choose that thought.

It’s a fact. Even you professional multi-taskers…your brain can only handle one thought at a time. When you have thousands of thoughts floating around in your head, they are lined up, one after the other, and they flow through at very high rate of speed. When you understand this concept and are empowered with the idea that you can actually choose your thoughts, you will be able to affect your health and wellbeing directly.

Choose to live in “An Attitude of Gratitude” If you are grateful for something, it is impossible to hold on to thoughts of anger, grief, resentment, jealousy, and hate. These are all very low frequency thoughts and emotions. They are the emotions that degrade the function of your cells. They alter and suppress the health stimulating hormones and perpetuate the stress hormones. They suppress your immune function, digestion, respiration and diminish your brain function. On the other hand, maintaining a grateful attitude will enhance all of these things. Gratitude and love are the most powerful thoughts and emotions and have the most powerful, positive effect on the cells, tissues and organs of the body.

“But I have nothing to be grateful for.” You might be saying. Nonsense! Do the following Three Minute Gratitude Drill and see how you feel…

For three minutes, simply say, out loud and with as much enthusiasm as you can muster, (Fake it ‘til you make it here)

“I’m grateful for__________________.” (Fill in the blank)
“I’m grateful for__________________.
“I’m grateful for__________________.”
“I’m grateful for__________________.”
“I’m grateful for__________________.”
“I’m grateful for__________________.”

Most times, people will say, “I can’t think of anything.” Fine…do you have socks on? Be grateful for that. Did you eat breakfast? Be grateful for that. Do you have a bed to sleep in? Do you have a car? Did you wake up ‘alive’ this morning? Are you able to breath? Are you able to walk? Can you hear? Did you visit a friend recently? Do you have any unique skills? Do you have friends and family who love you? You get the point…anything goes and the sky is the limit with this drill. The idea is to do it. Really do it and then see just how you feel afterward. Everybody that we have had do that drill will feel a little better, a little brighter, a little more optimistic after they have verbalized their gratitude. It sounds too simple to be true…But, it’s very tough to continue resonating at a low frequency of thought and emotion once you are grateful. Now, you can always allow yourself to drop back down there after the drill…but that is a matter of choice. If you want to achieve peak health, you will choose to remain at the frequency of gratitude.