A positive attitude doesn’t stem from blind luck. It isn’t the result of getting a discount on your morning coffee or a smile from a stranger, either. A real positive outlook on life comes from within. So doesn’t it make sense to focus on what’s happening on the inside to develop one?

It seems a lot easier to change our outlooks by making external alterations. A new car. A new haircut. A new house. Things of that nature “feel” like shortcuts to a better disposition. Sometimes they work, too–but only temporarily. The shine wears off quickly and we’re back to where we started.

That’s because attitude has nothing to do with our external realities. Mother Theresa, by all accounts, managed to keep a pretty upbeat perspective even though she was surrounded by the horrors of disease and poverty.

How do we get there, though? Changing our hair is easy. Changing our minds seems impossible by comparison. Our thinking is a complex combination of socialization, experience, genetics and assorted other mysteries that traditional science still can’t get handle on. How are we supposed to make that internal adjustment?

One of the most effective ways to do it involves the use of affirmations. By making positive, affirmative statements to yourself and feeling them in a very real way, you can start to reprogram your disposition. You can empower your mind to reject negativity and bask in the glow of the positive. Affirmations, in essence, shove out the ugly thinking, replacing it with positive hooks on which we can hang our daily hats.

This is a highly effective way to improve your outlook on life and when it’s done correctly, you’ll notice changes in your disposition quite quickly. You’re not stuck with your current attitude and there’s no reason to rush out for a box of donuts, a great new set of clothes or a bottle of wine to improve it. Don’t bother with those trivial externalities. Happiness and a positive perspective come from within.

Develop your positive attitude by using self-affirmations. They’re fast. They’re easy. They’re fun. And best of all, they really work.

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