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What is the greatest contributing factor to your happiness?  What about your success in life, business, family? How often do you start your day feeling good and ready to take on whatever life has for you, only to find that what life has for you that particular day is a traffic jam, a rude cashier and a coffee spill down your shirt all before getting to work? You start out feeling happy and end up frustrated and ready for the day to be over before it ever begins. Despite our natural inclination to blame people and events for our frustration or unhappiness, I believe the biggest factor to happiness is something we all control. It’s something that can be changed in a matter of minutes for the good or the bad. And, it’s something that no one else can manipulate without our approval.

So, what is this factor that we all have in common? It is our attitude! Your attitude is controlled by only you and is the most important key to becoming successful in any area. Without the proper attitude you will never see the happiness or success you have the ability to reach.

Charles Swindoll says, “I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.”

How awesome is that! We have control of over 90% of our life by how we react! Our reactions are directly affected by our attitude. When our attitude is healthy the 90% of life that we control is lived with joy and contentment.

It’s easy to think that you would have a better attitude if the circumstances around you were better, but in reality your attitude is what will affect your circumstances. Think of attitude as eyeglasses; they are the filter for how we see the world. Our attitude will determine how we see our circumstances. We all know people with amazing circumstances that still have a bad attitude. They are never happy and seem to have no joy in life. I am sure you also know people that are in pretty bad situations that continually have a great attitude and remain joyful despite their circumstances.

Your attitude is a reflection of your inward emotions. So, to change your attitude you must start with controlling your thoughts and emotions. You must become aware of your feelings and decide if you are willing to allow them to influence your attitude. Decide how you will react to life’s challenges before you are faced with them. While we do not know what tomorrow will bring, we do have the ability to decide within our minds how we will allow ourselves to react.

I love what John Maxwell says about attitude:

“Attitude is the advance man of our true selves, attitudes roots are inward but its fruits outward, attitude is our best friend or your worst enemy, attitude is more honest and consistent than words, and it’s the thing that draws people to us or away from us. Attitude is never content unless it’s expressed. It is the librarian of our past, it’s the speaker of your present, it’s the prophet of your future!”

We all have the 10% that happens to us in life. And while some of people’s 10% seems more difficult than others, you can decide for yourself what attitude you will adopt. It is this attitude that will dictate how the other 90% of your life is lived.

Take a lesson from Nick Vujicic!  The circumstances he has been dealt are much worse than most of us can imagine. He realized however, that attitude has the power to affect the circumstances of life, so he decided to change.  Watch this short video to see the power of attitude at work!

What are some practical things that you do to help you maintain a positive attitude even in the midst of negative circumstances? Click here to leave a comment.