Whatever has happened to you in the past will be coloured by the way you
felt at the time … and how you have felt (in all probability) about it
since. Those feelings contribute to the way you react now.
To live an enriched life, it's important to understand this. Why"?
Because how you feel can either stop you in your tracks or inspire you
to take action on any given day.

I'm sure that if you think about it for a few minutes, you'll be

able to recall one negative experience which still affects you – in a
negative way – even now. It's more than likely that if you were to
recount the incident, you'll use the words, "I felt …"

The same can be said about positive experiences. If you were to tell
someone about any positive experience from your past, again, you will
probably use the words, "I felt ..." in the conversation.

It is worth remembering that however your body reacted at the time is
exactly how your body will react when you trigger the memory. Let me
give you an example from a seminar I facilitated: I asked everyone to
close their eyes and remember a time when they had been embarrassed.
Without exception, each person went bright red as they remembered the
circumstances.

Memories are potent reminders to our emotions.

It should be obvious therefore that emotions have the capability to
dictate future fortune or future disaster.

It is these collective feelings, accumulated from every positive and
negative incident and event in your life, people you have know in your
personal and work lives, your finances, and how you interact with the
world around you, which attitude.

How have you been affected by your feelings? Do you have a 'can do'
attitude or are you always 'going to'? With the right attitude you
can move mountains, realize your dreams and achieve your goals. With
the wrong attitude dreams and goals are crushed before they have a
chance.

Attitude is extremely important to success and happiness. Having the
right attitude guarantees you a good life.

Since everything in life affects everything else, you certainly don't
want an attitude which is going to have a detrimental affect on your
quality of life. That's why it's a good idea to take stock and
examine your feelings every now and then.

Here's a quick exercise for you …..

Take a couple of minutes to jot down those areas of your life which
could do with some improvement.

When you've done that, examine your feelings about each of item
you've written down.

Can you identify why it is you have those particular feelings?

Our lives, yours and mine, are governed by the same formula – the
feelings we have affect our current attitude … and our current
attitude determines the quality of our lives.

In short, the feelings we have determine the quality of our lives.

Attitude is a major determining factor in how your life turns out … so
if your life isn't what you want it to be, you need to examine your
attitude.

The two most important questions you can ask yourself are these:

1. What sort of attitude do I have?
2. How can I improve it?

And believe me, there is always room for improvement!

About the author: Barbara Rose is a mentor, coach, teacher and
alternative therapist who specializes in helping people reach their
potential at all levels (spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical).
Please visit www.barbaras-library.com for a complete list of Barbara's
articles and books. To find out more about Barbara please go to
www.barbara-rose.name.