GA or BA? You Choose!

I was digging through my notes from earlier this summer when I had a great preschool teacher training with a lady called Melissa McKensie. It seems that no matter what we do in life, we can choose which attitude we will have about it: good (GA) or bad (BA). It really helped me when she broke down the characteristics of both good and bad attitude. Today I want to share my notes with you. 

Characteristics of a Good Attitude (GA)

• Things don't always go as expected - being flexible is a must. I try my best to train myself in this very thought that I need to be flexible because in life, things don't always go as expected. Flexibility is a jewel in the hands of a person with a GA. 
• Tolerates less than ideal but wants to improve it - I believe that this is where character takes shape and improves. When we tolerate less than ideal but want to bring improvement it is a sign that we have hope. Happy is the person who has hope in less than ideal circumstances. 
• Generally happy, in spite of circumstances - Life doesn't always go my way but that should not dictate my level of joy. I choose to believe that the joy of the Lord Jesus is my strength. This does not mean that I immediately become a professional faker carrying around a false happiness in time of distress. Joy is deeper than happiness and my relationship with Jesus gives me the joy I need for times of trial. My happiness comes from the fact that God has my back, no matter what's happening. 
• Helps without being asked - this is a learned behavior worth having. Having a helpful attitude out of passion and compassion is great. People will actually find you to be a treasure if you practice that from a heart of generosity.
• Accepts responsibility when things go wrong - (insert deep breath here) if you are a leader, I have learned that you have to do that whether you are right or wrong. It takes humility and a sense of purpose in order to be good at accepting responsibility. 
• Enjoys working hard - I think that "enjoys" is the key word here. If you love what you do or if you find a sense of purpose, you will enjoy working hard, which is another key of a GA. 

Characteristics of a Bad Attitude (BA)

• Sees a crisis in every situation (or creates one) - I believe that the vision of a person with a BA is really skewed so they are visually trained to bring mess into any situation. 
• Feel as she is doing all the work - I can agree that when you have a BA it feels super heavy, therefore, you have the impression that you are doing all the work. Being emotionally drained by a BA makes every area of life unbearable. 
• Finds everything wrong with everything or everyone - have you met anyone like that? They probably have a BA. If you're the one in that position, try to get out of that mental attitude as soon as possible. 
• Monopolizes the conversations - No one enjoys being on the other side of a conversation like that, especially when the person with the topic monopoly has a BA. 
• Doesn't listen well - I believe the person spends so much time dumping that they don't have time (or maybe energy and patience) to listen well. I was just reading in the book of James this morning that we need to be quick to listen and slow to speak and slow to get angry. 
• Needs lots of affirmation - the issue here is, sometimes "lots of affirmation" might not be enough. It doesn't matter how much you affirm, appreciate and encourage a person with a BA, it will never fill their void. The BA is currently impeding the person from receiving a healthy amount of affirmation and encouragement. 
• Won't admit being wrong - Okay, that's a tough one. Because you are the wiser person with a great attitude, you will understand that it may be difficult for them to accept a mistake and ask for forgiveness. A bad attitude affects so many areas of our lives. I also want you to be compassionate because if we can be honest, we have all held on to our BA and we could be in the shoes of that person who won't admit that they are wrong. 
• Hard to get along with but sees others as problem - when someone has a BA, it immediately makes them unpleasant to be around. The trick is, they don't see it. The negativity they carry because of the BA makes them see everyone else as the problem. 

Today I am challenged to choose my attitude carefully. Having a Bad Attitude hurts everything I do. My goal is to find and keep a Good Attitude about everything God has asked me to do this season. 

* Question: how was your attitude this week?