Word-Of-the-Week #745: Disposition

November 15, 2018 by  

Disposition one’s usual mood or frame of mind.

What would you say your usual mood is? Do you see the glass half-full or half-empty?

This week features excerpts from a couple of articles on Disposition.

From the Economist, “Sunny side up – Optimism, it seems, is in the genes.”

“For some people in this world, the glass always seems to be half-full. For others it is half-empty. But how someone comes to have a sunny disposition in the first place is an interesting question.

It has been known for a long time that optimists see the world selectively, mentally processing positive things while ignoring negative ones, and that this outlook helps determine their health and well-being. In recent years, it has also become clear that carriers of a particular version of a particular gene are at higher risk than others of depression and attempted suicide when they face traumatic events.”

And it turns out that some of us have genes that are biased towards positive images and away from negative ones. In other words, the optimists really do see the world differently. Amazing huh?

She goes on to say, “Rose-tinted spectacles may be good for one’s health, as these results fit in with wider ideas about how a tendency to look on the bright side of life is part of being resilient to stress. Those with short variants of this gene are expected to have an increased susceptibility to mood disorders following such stress. It is not all good news, though, for optimists. Because these results suggest that a person’s attitude to life is inherited, they serve as a stark warning to all buoyant optimists that trying to cheer the rest of the world up with nothing more than a smile and an effortlessly sunny disposition is doomed to failure.”

And this from Devaney Rae Jones “Is Your Disposition Repelling Your Choices?

Do you ever consider how your disposition affects your available choices in life? Even more, how does your disposition impact your existing relationships, as well as the outcomes in your work or project efforts?

 Oh, and for the record: your disposition has to do with your usual mood and your tendencies to act or to think in a certain way.

Your Mindset – is connected to your words. Here’s how the mindset-to-words connection flows: when your established set of attitudes (your mindset) is left unchallenged, over a period of time you generally develop fixed beliefs, strong opinions, and patterned tendencies in your responses and behaviors. These impact your interactions with others about various subject matter, especially your responses and behaviors as reflected through your words. Therefore, your mindset becomes obvious to others through your words.

Here’s the Deal: Are you drawing amazing choices (people and situations) into your life, or do you repel them, through the reflection of your mindset?

And one more thought from LA Times writer Michelle Vartan about dealing with the winter blues. She writes, Be Mindful. Brain scans show that practicing gratitude can rewire our reticular activating system – the area of our mind that focuses on good versus bad. Once you wake up, instead of focusing on your to-do list, think of three things you’re grateful for, then get out of bed.”

This week’s focus is on your disposition. Personally I have always believed that your disposition is a choice and can be changed. Given that, would you keep the disposition you have? Have you figured out what is FUN for you? It just might change your disposition if you did it more!

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