Belief affects attitude. Changing your belief changes your attitude.
- Why: Your beliefs control your actions and the way you feel about something, your atitude. You can alter a belief to change your perception and better deal with a challenge. Beliefs, whether positive or negative, can affect your physical and psychological health.
- How: Approach your challenge with a realistic view. Can you change the challenge to make it more workable? If the challenge appears not changeable, then a change of attitude is possible by changing a belief.
- ☐ Consider your challenge. Is the outcome changeable? If so, then identify a more positive yet realistic outcome.
- ☐ If the outcome is not changeable, then describe your concern or fear. There is a belief that is supporting that attitude. Identify a more positive belief. What are the steps needed to bring about the change to a more positive belief.
- ☐ Sometimes a challenge may require a change of belief before a more positive outcome can be found. And, sometimes altering the challenge is necessary before finding the more positive belief.
- Example: Because of a fracture, my arm is immobilized in a cast. This condition is not going away for several weeks and I can’t change it.
- ☐ My challenge is how to deal with an immobilized arm.
- ☐ The outcome is not changeable, so I focus on a change of belief.
- ☐ My concern is that I can’t do everything I want to do.
- ☐ I see that my belief is self-defeating because the belief appears to be “all or nothing” thinking.
- ☐ I work on the more positive belief that there is still opportunity to do some of what I need and want to do.
- ☐ I see now that I can also improve my outcome with a support system and creating attainable goals.
