People with age esteem have a positive attitude. Studies show that people who enjoy life with a positive attitude live longer and happier lives. This is not to say that they don’t have aches and pains like anyone else. They simple choose to take a different view of life. Rather than focus on their pains, they chose to concentrate on what goes well and to develop their interests. They are engaged in living.
Age Esteemers know that when we focus on the brighter side of life, we draw other positive people and opportunities to us.
- Become aware of your thoughts and words. Are they positive or negative.?
- Turn negatives into positives. When you catch yourself complaining or discouraging yourself, change your phrase to make it positive and encouraging.
- Surround yourself with positive people. Drop those who hold you back or put you down. They don’t deserve your time.
Bonnie Fatio
Age Esteem begins when we are children. Research at Yale University and the American Institute on Aging indicate that the attitude that we have towards age and older people as children influences how we ourselves age. Children who are raised with a positive attitude and relationship towards older people age better and more healthfully and tend to live longer.
The relationships we have with older people, the language we hear others use to describe older people, and the images that we see illustrating older people will impact our whole life and even contribute to our longevity.
Age esteemers have a positive attitude toward aging. They embrace it with age esteem. Age esteemers value, admire and respect age and tend to live longer, happier lives.
Bonnie Fatio
It always puts a smile on my face to see fields of sunflowers in bloom. They have such a generous attitude. The sunflower not only shares its beauty as it lifts its face to the sun as though laughing with joy. – It also provides a landing field for all kinds of airborne insects from bumble bee to butter fly who in turn spread the flower’s pollen.
This is easily understood by people with age esteem. Age-esteemers also have an attitude of generosity.
- They focus their thoughts on the sunshine, the positive.
- They shine with inner beauty.
- They share their joy of living, and
- They spread their pollen of wisdom.
Bonnie Fatio
They say it takes more muscles to frown than to smile. I believe that it also takes more energy to have a negative attitude than to have a positive one. It’s easier to enjoy the moment than to waste energy worrying about what might happen tomorrow.
If you have trouble finding the positives, try this simple exercise.
Surround yourself with nature. Take a walk in a park, in the countryside, or even your own back yard. Sit quietly and discover the life around you. Watch the leaves swaying in the breeze and the insects in the grass. Listen to the birds. Smell the flowers. Breathe in the fresh air.
When the Creator designed our world, it was with a tremendous imagination and purpose. Watching an inch worm persistently climb a stalk is a wonderful lesson in positive attitude. Listening to the happy trill of a singing bird reminds us to sing with our own joy. Going barefoot in the grass helps us touch down with our inner child and that wonderful time in life when we had no responsibilities, helping us to put life into perspective.
It’s easier to wear a positive attitude when we remember the little miracles of this world: the song of the lark, the journey of the inch worm and the feel of grass between our toes. – And to realize that we too are each one of God’s wonders.
Bonnie Fatio
Rise and shine! What a great expression that is.
Don’t just get up in the morning, rise and shine. Make it a great day for those around you. This includes the new people you meet in the course of your day as well as those you know. A simple smile to someone walking towards you or a friendly greeting to the bus driver or sales clerk. It is easy to shine, to share your own happiness and talents.
I’ve always loved the stories of Winnie the Pooh and to hear him exclaim as he got up in the morning, “Ho hum, I wonder what great thing will happen to me today.” When we arise with that positive attitude in the morning, it is easy to rise and shine. We are ready and eager to discover the day and the adventures it will bring – and to greet it with open arms of enthusiasm.
Bonnie Fatio
Brighten up a bad day with a positive attitude.
All of us have bad days. And it’s true that some of us have worse days than others. However, I feel sorry for people who think they need to drag others down with them. It accomplishes no purpose. In fact it only makes them feel worse themselves.
It’s possible to turn your day into a bright one at every age.
- If you wake up feeling miserable, turn your day around immediately.
- Before you open your eyes, tell yourself, “This will be a great day!”
- Smile. The effort of lifting the corners of your mouth with lift your spirits.
- Think of something you can do today to make someone else feel good.
- Turn on some music and loosen up. Dance and sing.
- Look for humor during the day.
Bonnie Fatio
Do you enjoy exchanging a hello and “How are you today?” with people you meet?
Yesterday when I greeted a sales clerk in that manner, she shot back “It’s the worst day of my life. Nothing could possibly be worse!” Her face scowled and became ugly with her disgust. I felt attacked by her answer. It was as though the only thing that could make her day better would be to ruin mine.
“Then this is your lucky day.” I responded. “It can only get better!” She looked at me as though I had thrown cold water in her face. It momentarily changed her thought pattern as she tried to decide how to react.
I didn’t mean to be flip, but she was nurturing her sour and negative attitude. She didn’t need to dwell of her sorrows. She also had the option to say, “If this is the worst day of my life, it will soon be in the past. – And my life will improve.
