There are more than one pithy saying in this world: “Early bird gets the worm”, “Keep on keeping on”, “You don’t know what you don’t know”, etc. Now, most of these are explainable, but some are just meant to be off-the-cuff remarks that make us feel good saying them while everyone around us is confused. However, one quip deserves some recognition: “Attitude Determines Altitude”. Let’s break that down.
What do you believe about yourself? We are not asking what you WANT to believe about yourself but what you actually believe about yourself. For instance, when you think of your physical fitness, or lack thereof, what do you believe? Are you telling yourself you are fat or out of shape? If so, you will remain out of shape. The same goes for any belief in life. Now, we're not saying lie to yourself. If you aren’t where you should be in a particular area, don’t tell yourself it's fine to be there or require other people to accept that lie.
Why does it matter if your thoughts or attitude are thinking a certain way? It isn’t like you are acting on it, right? At least, we don’t think we are. The Bible has some very interesting insights into how our emotions and thoughts affect our actions. Luke 6: 45 says, “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” Wise words out of Luke.
However, good and evil thoughts aren’t the only thing that creates actions; positive and negative ones do as well. As humans, we believe thoughts and attitudes pop into our brain and pop out without effect, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Rather, instead of disappearing, thoughts get stacked upon each other until they create an outward action in our lives. For instance, let’s say you eat junk food for one meal. It probably won’t kill you, right? However, if you eat junk food for EVERY meal, eventually you will have complications.
Negative beliefs and attitudes will eventually come out. There is no way around it. Fortunately, the same is true for positive attitudes. Positive begets positive. Negative begets negative. Above all, remember this golden rule: the person with the best attitude wins.
