It was a significant learning experience for me when I finally understood that I can choose my personal attitude each and every day.

We can choose to have a positive attitude or we can choose to have a negative attitude. This daily choice is so very important.

Our attitude will impact our personal interactions with family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and others.

Clearly, a positive attitude will help guide us toward success in whatever we choose to do. And the attitude we choose each day will always be very obvious to those people around us.

William James is considered to be the father of American Psychology. He wrote and published his landmark textbook, The Principles of Psychology, in 1890.

He was one of the first scholars to recognize how our attitude will significantly impact our daily life.

This is the famous William James quote about our attitude. “The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.”

Following are my favorite quotes about the importance of the attitude and the thoughts we choose on a daily basis.

It is so very important to always remember that we all have the ability to choose our personal attitude each and every day.

“You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude toward what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering change rather than allowing it to master you.” – Brian Tracy

“Our attitude is often the most important choice we make every day.” – Hal Urban

“Change your thoughts and you change your world.” – Norman Vincent Peale

“The way you see things – your attitude – is the most important factor in your success.” – Zig Ziglar

“Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.”- Lou Holtz

“The most expensive piece of real estate is the six inches between your right and left ear. It’s what you create in that area that determines your wealth. We are only really limited by our mind.” – Dolph de Roos

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing; the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” – Viktor Frankl

“Great effort springs naturally from a great attitude.” – Pat Riley

I believe the following statement says it all with regard to what we should do with a personal bad attitude. Here’s the bottom line:

“A bad attitude is like a flat tire. You can’t go anywhere until you change it.”

Editor’s note: Dr. Jim Surrell, author of “SOS (Stop Only Sugar) Diet,” has his practice at the Digestive Health Clinic at Upper Peninsula Health System – Marquette. Requests for health topics for this column are encouraged.