Your positive attitude could change the world

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Updated: February 3, 2012 8:08AM

Instead of a column filled with New Year’s resolutions that most won’t keep, this year I want to share some thoughts from people I come in contact with. Some are friends, some are acquaintances, but all have something important to say about living life in a better way. Perhaps we can carry some of these thoughts through the year with us.

Jodie Baudek, owner and instructor at Essence of Life Healing Arts in Shorewood, frequently talks about our actions being like a pebble dropped into a pond. The littlest thing we do can cause a ripple that ultimately can change the world.

If you leave a yoga or exercise class, for instance, and you are feeling good about yourself, then you are teaching other people to feel good about themselves as well, Baudek said.

When she has had time to tune in to her own feelings and get to that place of peace within herself, nothing upsets her as much during the day. If she’s stuck in traffic, instead of being impatient, she is wishing others well, she said.

Do you notice that it doesn’t take much to turn our mood sour some days? A store clerk is snippy or the guy behind you throws his arms up in disgust because you didn’t pull out of the parking lot quick enough, and suddenly you’re feeling angry and hostile.

How we behave toward others, or them toward us, makes a difference.

Maggie Hornung and Nicole Washkowiak are both intensive care nurses at Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center. Their attitudes make a huge difference to the people they treat on a daily basis. People in the ICU are under tremendous stress because they or a loved one are very ill.

If you put yourself in someone else’s position, you can be more compassionate, Hornung said. It’s the little things that make the world better every single day, she said.

Washkowiak agrees. If you think positive and behave positively to people, it should circle right back to you.

It’s that karma thing, or the Golden Rule, if you will. Treat others as you would want them to treat you. If you give out warmth and happiness, those same things will come back to you.

I have a favorite tale that many will recognize (I’m paraphrasing). A woman buys a newspaper at the same stand every day. The man behind the counter is always crabby. The woman’s friend asks her why she subjects herself to his nasty behavior day after day.

The woman says that the newspaper stand is the most convenient one for her to go to and she would rather ignore his behavior, and even give him a smile, than go out of her way or not get her newspaper.

We never learn why the man is crabby. Perhaps he has an ill wife or is all alone in the world. Maybe the woman’s daily smile makes some positive impact on him that she has no knowledge of.

Either way, she doesn’t let his unfriendly attitude ruin her day. I like that a lot.

Treva Jones, of Wilmington, recently lost two very dear friends. She strives to remember that life is about the ups and downs. She tries to breathe deeply during times of stress and things kind of level out. When life is a flat line, you are dead, she said.

Megan Stytz says that the bad things in life make you grateful for what you have and that every day can be a blessing.

We don’t always get to see the impact our actions have on someone else’s day, or even their life. If we smile and shrug off that snippy salesperson, or let the impatient driver get into our lane, perhaps he will do the same for the next person. And those are behaviors that really could change our world.

Reach Kris Stadalsky at
writestuff56@comcast.net.