Think of these key attitudes like strawberry seeds. If you're hoping to taste the delicious strawberries, you need to plant the seeds and water them regularly. In the same way, you need to water your attitudes regularly, by giving them your mindful attention. Then you can enjoy the fruit of your efforts in the form of a sweet, delicious strawberry. I'm a sucker for strawberries. Although the attitudes identified in this section seem separate, they feed into and support each other. Any one of these attitudes, pursued and encouraged to grow, inadvertently supports the others. Here's a different approach that often works well. It's called the 'Acting As If' principle. Maybe you don't feel like shifting your attitude. Perhaps you're having a hard time practising mindfulness. Maybe you feel annoyed, sad or angry. What can you do? Another very powerful approach is to use your facial expression or body to shift your attitude. So you can 'act as if' you're feeling accepting, calm or happy. For example, lots of research shows how holding a smile on your face or walking as if you have a bounce in your step can lift your mood and shift your attitude within just a minute. As Shakespeare said, 'Assume a virtue, if you have it not.'
gazhall.com