Cultivating Positivity

I recently noticed that I was harboring (heck, nurturing) a storm of negative thoughts. One of my particular favorite flavors is about time, and how I am never going to get it all done. Here is a brain dump of last Tuesday:

• "How can it be 3pm already? I've gotten nothing done!"
• "Oh crap, I'm traveling to Costa-friggin-Rica in two weeks, and we don't have any hostels booked. Gotta add that to the list... but when? Ahhh!"
• "Stupid dog just peed on the floor... again. She's never going to get this litterbox training thing! Gotta find time to take her to obedience school. Why hasn't Anthony booked obedience school yet? I thought this was his job."
• "I should have sent those bachelorette party invites out last week."
• "Taxes are going to be so complicated this year. Uggggh."
• "I didn't go on that run today I had hoped for... I feel flabby."

And on and on and on. At some point, I snapped out of it, and realized that I had been treating these thoughts like the weather... big ol' pieces of hail falling down and hitting me on the head. Ouch!

But the truth is, negative thoughts are not like weather, but more like the clothes we wear or the food we put in our mouths... entirely under our control. When these thoughts popped up in my head, I chose to look at them, expand upon them, and give them a nice cozy home in my mind. Yeah, what about that obedience school? Let's dwell on that for a while.

Given that negative thoughts are a choice, so too are positive thoughts. Oooo, let's bring in some of the. Please. So I have prescribed a simple positivity exercise for myself, that I repeat a few times per day. I make a list of 10 good things that have happened so far in the day. And I take a few seconds just to celebrate each one.

• "I emptied my inbox. Yay me!"
• "I really connected with Megan on our call today."
• "I am proud of that article on parent traits I wrote today."
• "That quesadilla for lunch was fantastic."
• "Anthony gave me the cutest smile this morning."
• And yes, "My dog just hit the litterbox! Good girl!"

For an added twist, I sometimes swap lists with Anthony at the end of the day. Good news is best when it is shared, afterall. And there is the added benefit that learn more about what is important to Anthony.

It's amazing how much this simple exercise tickles and massages the soul. Feels so good... I'll take this warm rain over hail any day.