The company at which I work held its annual convention in Orlando about a month ago; I did not attend, but my mom did. When my mom and the other office attendees came back, they were very excited to share a new habit that they had learned from a guest speaker. This speaker said that he no longer asks someone how they are doing, upon saying hello. Instead, he opens with "tell me something good." His point was that people will often focus on the negative when given a wide opening; by narrowing it down to the positive, people stop to think about it. Since that lesson, many coworkers have changed their ringtones to the catchy 70s song (which I get stuck in my head a lot) and my mom and I greet each other each morning with "tell me something good."
I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a super bubbly, always positive, cheerleading type of person. I'm not incredibly social and I am not a big hugger. That being said, I've worked very hard at being happy (and I don't think that happiness requires any of the above) and I love that I start each day with a good attitude. I make a conscious decision to have that attitude and I think it spills over into all aspects of my life. It's great to see the good things that happen when you open yourself up to those possibilities.
For the past 2 1/2 weeks, I have been focused on eating right and exercising because I am trying to get in shape. I'm not doing anything drastic (a combination of lean protein, fruits, veggies, and the gym does wonders!) and I've lost five pounds so far. It's not easy, but I think that having a smile on my face has helped me. My head has gotten healthy; I want my body to match.
Oh, and yesterday I got great news from my accountant! Basically, I owe significantly less than I was expecting to (I knew I had overestimated, but I didn't know how high I was), and that money can go toward wedding planning and be a basic safety net. Do I think that having a good attitude magically lowered my taxes? No. That's math. But I do fully believe that I notice these great surprises when I'm happy and I don't let bad news send me into a tailspin.
None of this is an exact science and I still slip into bad moods here and there. I'm sure I'll use this blog as a venting place on occasion. In the meantime, I will stay in tune with the positive stuff and keep thinking of my something good.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Okay, now I've got the song in my head, too (though, seriously, it's not the WORST 70s song, and there was a pretty good cover done for - what was it? - Happy Feet?
I try very hard to focus on the positive, but I fear I've been slipping a bit. I'm going to steal this idea and see if I can spread a little bit of it around my corner of the country - I'll meet you in the middle!
Post a Comment