ATTITUDE

He has got some attitude problem.

Her attitude towards life is amazing.

The so called “Attitude” is the word we get to hear and use in conversations very frequently. If as a common man, I think deep about it, I have following questions dangling in my mind.

What is this “Attitude”?

How does it look like?

Where do I get it?

Unable to get answers, I type attitude in word and look for synonyms. I get following:

Then, I searched the god of internet – Google and needless to say, I was bombarded with results. The most relevant definition I could relate to as per my understanding of the term is:

An attitude is the psychological response to a person, an object, to a situation, to society and to life itself that generally influence our behaviors and actions. Attitudes are either positive or negative.

Well said. Attitudes are either positive or negative. For instance, I get a scolding from my mother in law. I can have 2 takes on it.

1. Who is she to talk to me like that? She is not my mother.

2. Oh, that’s fine. Even my own mother sometimes blares out some words. Do I start hating her for that?

I would consider the 1^st take as a negative attitude towards my mother in law and the 2^nd one as positive attitude towards her. Needless to say, not everyone thinks the same way.

Going deeper into the term, ABC of attitude have been defined by - Van Den Berg et al., 2006;Eagly and Chaiken, 1998.

A- The affective, or emotional component which influence the behavior – Good/Bad/Ambivalent. Let’s say - I love sleeping.

B- The way we act or behave based on our attitude. Let’s say – I would go to sleep anytime I get a chance.

C- The cognitive part or belief of a person. It is generally based on what that person learnt from experience or observations. Let’s say – I am sure sleeping helps me feel good.

Coming back to my own thoughts, I somehow agree with Diane von Furstenberg on the words “Attitude is everything”.

I may have a god or positive attitude towards certain things and bad/negative towards others. Being human, I cannot have an ideal approach to everything. If I had that, I would not be called human.

Also, the few lines wrote at the beginning, the most common lines I get to hear relevant to me are –

“Delhi Girls have that so called attitude.”

And frankly speaking, I care damn about that. I mean, a friend from Pune once asked me that in front of her Delhite husband and confirmed that if she was right. To my own surprise, I proved her right. I replied

“If we have it, let it be. I mean, why you think so much about girls from Delhi.”

I don’t know why but girls from Delhi are always the talk of town. When I was in college (Haryana), Dilli ki ladkian were considered hot. They were the chicks guys would try on first. When I was in Hyderabad, people used to comment on our dressing sense even if we wore a salwar kameez or saree. Not to mention, the comments were not always bad. Some of them were really adorable and made our day. I went to Chennai to attend a friend’s marriage and the bride itself was conscious that everyone is looking at those 2 fair girls from North India. That made us uncomfortable and we felt same until some relatives of the bride entered the venue with 2 gorgeous ladies.

I am not saying, it’s always looks that draws the attitude about us. See, there I go again.

Anyways, Attitude, that’s what we were talking about. Guys, I am sure you would agree that you got to have attitude to achieve/succeed/get anything or everything in life. Even the father of our nation ‘Mahtma Gandhi’ has some famous lines on attitude

“We must become the change we what to see.”

“In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness.”

Read some more quotes I liked on attitude here

In the end, I would sign off with this short story which may change the attitude towards making conclusions without knowing the details.

A 24 year old boy seeing out from the train’s window shouted…

“Dad, look the trees are going behind!”Dad smiled and a young couple sitting nearby, looked at the 24 year Old’s childish behavior with pity,suddenly he again exclaimed…“Dad, look the clouds are running with us!”The couple couldn’t resist and said to the old man…“Why don’t you take your son to a good doctor?”The old man smiled and said…“I did and we are just coming from the hospital, my son was blind from birth, he just got his eyes today.

I agree, not be judgemental is really hard. But, try and change the attitude, it may help.