Your mental attitude is completely under your influence and control. You simply can’t blame anyone else – whatever your situation. Even in tough times when life throws something at us and forces us to make changes, the one thing that IS within our control is our mind and attitude.

You only have to hear the story of Viktor Frankl to appreciate this. Frankl was a prominent and highly esteemed Austrian neurologist who, along with his wife and parents, was captured by the Nazis and deported to a concentration camp in 1942. He continued his work within the camps and prevented countless suicides. His wife was transferred to another camp, where she perished, as did both his parents, but still Frankl continued his work and became even more devoted to helping others. In 1945 the Americans liberated the camp he was in.

As a result of his own hideous experiences and suffering in the camp – and that of others – he discovered that even suffering has a meaning. He went on to write ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’, which is an amazing and inspiring story of how a positive attitude can overcome literally any situation.

A strong, positive mental attitude generates inspiration: it puts your sixth sense in touch with God, ‘Infinite Intelligence’, the ‘ether’ or the universe. It moves your focus away from what is ‘wrong’ and ‘what cannot be changed’ and moves towards solution rather than problem. Whatever your belief is, whichever word you use, it’s the space that is within you and around you that carries information within it and through itself, and it is a source of power that you can access. You have your own internal receiver and transmitter, and your attitude is what tunes you in – or out – of the right frequency. When you are tuned in, and have a positive mental attitude, you can frame every experience as a potentially beneficial one, even if it doesn’t seem like one at the time.

Having a negative attitude is a bit like getting sunburnt on a cloudy day – you don’t realize how harmful it is until it’s too late. As Thomas Jefferson said: ‘Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on Earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude’.

A positive mind keeps itself busy looking for the potential good in every situation. We are going through unprecedented times and something as simple as g food that we have often taken for granted, now can be a challenge. If you see this as an excuse or a reason to ‘go off the diet’, you could instead view it as an opportunity for you to learn how to be creative and learn some new recipes or learn more about nutrition and being open to different ingredients and tastes. This is a skill that will no doubt come in very handy on countless occasions once you have mastered it!

Exercises:

Here are some steps to follow for creating a strong mental attitude: As you read each one, give yourself a mark out of 10 for each, with 10 being top marks and 1 being very poor. Make a note of your scores and then adjust these over time as you feel yourself changing more and more.

• First, you must create a strong and intense desire for what you want to achieve. This desire must become a passion, an absolute must have. It must not waver despite what is going on in the world. How can you amend your desires to be attainable right now? What will they be?/10
• Next, identify the thoughts and behaviours that might keep you from achieving this goal. You need to know what you have to stop doing before you can start doing something else, otherwise you are giving yourself mixed messages. You need to acknowledge what you must let go in exchange for having something much better. /10
• You must generate a clear, visible image or representation of ‘you’ as already having achieved your goal, and then generate powerful, positive emotions when you see it. Think ahead to the future, you can get through now by keeping and eye to a new horizon, knowing that things will change. This visualization must be repeated intentionally at least twice daily. /10
• You must regularly associate with like-minded people who have already achieved, or are achieving, the same or similar goals. The sense of belonging to a group is important because it creates a feeling of safety. We are all in this together. /10
• You must continue to read and/or listen to audio recordings that will feed your mind with positive thoughts and suggestions for at least 15 minutes a day. Put something positive on when you are getting dressed in the morning, or listen to it in the car or on the train, instead of watching the TV constantly and getting swept up in the negative news. Staying informed in one thing but becoming obsessed is another. Inform yourself from trusted sources, start the day with a positive mental breakfast as well as a nutritious food one. /10