How to Develop a Positive Attitude Towards Life

Video Transcript

"Hi my name is John Bosworth, I am a licensed mental health counselor in St. Petersburg, Florida. I would like to speak a little bit about how to develop a happier positive attitude towards life. There is basically three ways that we can do this, and I will add a little fourth. But the first is unconditionally accepting ourselves as human beings. And what that means is that is a big difference from self esteem. Usually self esteem we say well we feel really good about ourselves, because we accomplished something or because we are in a relationship. With unconditional self acceptance we realize that we are okay whether we have accomplished something or not or whether we are in a relationship or not. So it gives us a little bit more acceptance of ourselves as humans. Meaning sometimes we are going to do some good things, sometimes we might screw up a little bit. Sometimes we are going to be in a good relationship, sometimes we might not be. But if we accept ourselves unconditionally it is a lot easier to be happy no matter what life throws at us. And along with that that is the first way that we can develop a positive attitude. Second way, and they all kind of go together is to accept other people unconditionally or unconditional acceptance of others. And by that what we want to do is recognize that other human beings they are human, and fallible also, and they can make mistakes. But if we accept them as mistake makers, and ourselves as mistake makers, and work hard to make less mistakes we will have a much better attitude towards life. And also accepting world conditions the way they are. It does not mean we don't work to change them, but we accept them the way they are. So we have got unconditional acceptance of ourselves, unconditional acceptance of others, and unconditional acceptance of the world the way it is. And then one little tidbit that really helps is staying in the present moment. And by that what I mean is most of us live in a future or a past that is in our imagination or our thoughts. If we train ourselves through attentional strategies or meditation to stay centered in the present moment we actually start to enjoy life, and see the richness of a raindrop on a leaf or a cat walking down the street. Or nature, we tend to tune into nature a little bit more, and staying in the present allows us to live in the only moment we have, which is right now. My name is John Bosworth, and we are looking at ways to develop a positive attitude towards life."