It's so easy to become bogged down with life's little constant irritations and miss all the wonderful things in your life. I know I am not the first to have this important realization but when life kinds sucks I need to remind myself every day.
A while ago I read a book called The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Anchor. I have always been into self help and improvement books but the very cool thing about this one is he is a scientist and all his work is based on scientific study. He graduated and taught at Harvard so this isn't just talk this is real. I have always been a bit embarrassed because so many of the people around me just don't get why I am into this so having a book with credentials kinda gives me a "in your face" type of attitude to the unbelievers :).
Of course I need to read this book at least three times more and then take notes to remember all the wonderful suggestions to make me a happier person but the one thing that stuck in my head was to practice being grateful every day. The instructions where to put a reminder in your schedule to write 3 things you were grateful for every day. This started training your brain to look for positive things in your life instead of negatives. I know myself I can am very good at spotting errors. In my work I am a dog trainer I am always looking at what is wrong so I can fix it. At first finding things to be grateful for every day (you can't repeat) was hard but lately I find I am seeing things during every day life and thinking yes I can add that to the list, so I guess it is working.
My grateful things for today are
1. Logan was extremely well behaved today. You never know how a 3 year old is going to act and we had a busy day with a dentist appointment (him), stopped at two pet stores to drop off flyers, a doctors appointment (me) and waiting for a prescription at the pharmacy.
2. The doctor (who is just the nicest friendliest person) gave me some steroids for my cough that has been with me for 2.5 weeks. I hate taking steroids but I hate being sick more :).
3. Started rewarding Logan for getting dressed quicker and wow he has been great instead of the fighting.
A while ago I read a book called The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Anchor. I have always been into self help and improvement books but the very cool thing about this one is he is a scientist and all his work is based on scientific study. He graduated and taught at Harvard so this isn't just talk this is real. I have always been a bit embarrassed because so many of the people around me just don't get why I am into this so having a book with credentials kinda gives me a "in your face" type of attitude to the unbelievers :).
Of course I need to read this book at least three times more and then take notes to remember all the wonderful suggestions to make me a happier person but the one thing that stuck in my head was to practice being grateful every day. The instructions where to put a reminder in your schedule to write 3 things you were grateful for every day. This started training your brain to look for positive things in your life instead of negatives. I know myself I can am very good at spotting errors. In my work I am a dog trainer I am always looking at what is wrong so I can fix it. At first finding things to be grateful for every day (you can't repeat) was hard but lately I find I am seeing things during every day life and thinking yes I can add that to the list, so I guess it is working.
My grateful things for today are
1. Logan was extremely well behaved today. You never know how a 3 year old is going to act and we had a busy day with a dentist appointment (him), stopped at two pet stores to drop off flyers, a doctors appointment (me) and waiting for a prescription at the pharmacy.
2. The doctor (who is just the nicest friendliest person) gave me some steroids for my cough that has been with me for 2.5 weeks. I hate taking steroids but I hate being sick more :).
3. Started rewarding Logan for getting dressed quicker and wow he has been great instead of the fighting.
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| I love photographing sunsets, I am always grateful for them. |
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