Having the right attitude about Beta Sigma Phi is so important! Your chapter and your chapter sisters need your POSITIVE attitude! Regardless of what you plan to do, the dominant factor in its success is your attitude.

The right attitude cannot be overemphasized enough! It's the YES .. YES. I CAN .. YES, WE CAN .. YES, IT WILL HAPPEN .. BECAUSE, IF YOU THINK YOU CAN AND BELIEVE YOU CAN, THEN YOU WILL! It' s the 'Little-Engine-That-Could' mind-set. This was one of Grama's twelve golden threads of successful living and it's one of our golden threads as we stitch our quilt together in Beta Sigma Phi! If you really believe a goal can be reached, your attitude RELEASES NEW ENERGY that actually can help bring about the achievement of that goal.

There are many facets to attitude. The most powerful is POSITIVE thinking -- it's what makes you feel really good when you feel really bad! How you think will determine how you will become. And to paraphrase an old proverb. "As a Beta Sigma Phi thinketh in her head, so is she." An optimist is one who, when she wears out her shoes just figures she's back on her feet! The optimist takes action. She's a doer! She is a Beta Sigma Phi! We establish a beautiful camaraderie among others if we're positive and look on the bright side of life.

Get rid of what you don't want to make room for what you do. Compare it to getting rid of old clothes - throw out those clothes hanging in your closet that you haven't worn for 2-3 years. They have:

• a negative drain on your energy
• hamper possibility of getting new clothes
• emotional attachments we relate to .. [something expensive in which we felt luxurious & attractive. If you get rid of it, then you rid yourself of those pleasant emotions]

Our attitudes are handled much the same way. Our thoughts become HABITUAL and some can be so negative they win our lives. ATTITUDE IS A CHOICE WE MAKE. THEY CAN BE CHANGED!

Story of Thelma Thompson...

• husband stationed in Army camp in Mojave desert in CA. She went there to be near him
• soon she started to hate the place. She loathed it. She had never been so miserable!
• husband was sent on maneuvers in desert
• left alone in a tiny shack - no one to talk to
• heat was unbearable - 125 in the shade of the cactus
• wind blew incessantly.. all the food she ate, air she breathed was full of sand, sand and more sand
• Thelma became utterly wretched, feeling sorry for herself
• She wrote to her parents, "I'm giving up, coming home. I can't stand it here one minute longer. I'd rather be in JAIL!"
• Her father wrote back with just 2 lines ... 2 lines that changed and completely altered Thelma's life... 'TWO MEN LOOKED OUT FROM PRISON BARS,
  ONE SAW MUD, THE OTHER SAW STARS!'

Thelma read those lines over and over. Then made up her mind to FIND OUT WHAT WAS GOOD IN HER PRESENT SITUATION! SHE DECIDED TO LOOK FOR THE STARS! And, you know what happened?

• She made friends with the natives. When they saw how interested she was in their skills of weaving and pottery, they gave her gifts they would not consider selling to the tourists...
• She studied fascinating forms of the cactus, yuccas and Joshua trees
• She learned about prairie dogs and desert sunsets
• She hunted for seashells that had been left millions of years ago when the desert sands had been the ocean floor

What brought about this astonishing change?

• desert hadn't changed; nor had her situation
• husband was still on maneuvers; it was still hot; wind was still blowing
  THELMA HAD CHANGED HER ATTITUDE

And, by doing so she changed her wretched experience into the most exciting adventure of her life! In fact, it was so life-altering, she wrote a book about it entitled: "Bright Ramparts". She had looked out her SELF-CREATED PRISON and FOUND ... THE STARS!

You, too, can change your attitude and transmute the dust into ... stardust. So many say. "Change is not easy!" It does require us to make 'ADJUSTMENTS' ... but the effort is usually worth it in the end.

Perhaps you have some attitudes in your own chapters that are hampering your growth. In the packet of material you will each receive, there is a wonderful bulletin entitled, ATTITUDE RUMMAGE SALE. It is a fun and very effective way for your chapter to become aware of and 'adjust' to changing some of those attitudes you might be better off without!