Day Two

I have to say, I don't know if this is a self fulfilling prophecy or something but I think I feel happier already. The exercise element definitely helps. I have to force myself to start sometimes but then I feel great. I also find that that writing about myself is easier than expected :) and doesn't take too much of my time.

The things I am greatful today are:

1. My job, no I am not sucking up, the people are really great and I love to go.
2. My extended family, if I didn't have their help and support I don't know what I'd do.
3. My home, it's nothing grand but I really appreciate it and it's coming along. (we built our own home)

My second positive story:
I am, I will fuly admit, NOT a morning person. I never have been and although it has improved over the years. I do not jump out of bed with a ton of energy, raring to go at the first sign of dawn as my boys do. (Sophia also like her sleep.) But this morning my oldest son (who has Autism and is not very verbal) came into bed to wake me up and instead of trying to pull me and said with no prompting "want to cuddle" and cuddled up to me. It made my morning.

Day One

The first three things I have to be greatful for are my three children:

1. Seth
2. Sophia and
3. Samuel

As corny as it may be, they really are the light of my life. They give me so much joy. They also drive me crazy of course, but that just adds some excitment to life. It would be too boring to be sane.

The first positive story I have to tell also involves my kids. It just seemed like a long day and I was tired coming home and worried over the list of things to do in my head, like I do way too often. So was just a bit down when Samuel met me as I was coming in the door with hugs and kisses and great announcements of "Mommy's home" as usual. But then he also serenaded me with a song of Mommy is the best, mommy is so great, Mommmmy is the beeeeeeest! And I just had to think, life is good.

My Start to More Happiness

Hi there, This will be my first blog so please have patience with me anyone that happens to read this. I was sent an interesting email the other day with info that I found very intriguing. It is summarized as follows:

"There is a simple 2-minute task you can do each day, that, if repeated for 21 days researchers have found brings the following results:

Your intelligence rises, your creativity rises, your energy levels rise. In fact, what we've found is that every single business outcome improves. Your brain is 31 percent more productive...

So, what’s the thing that can drastically boost success: positivity.

When you get in a positive mindset, your brain releases dopamine, which does two things for you:                                                                                                                            
1.You are happier.
2.All of the learning centers of your brain are turned on.

Here are six simple suggestions from Achor that will help your students retrain their brains to view the world in a more positive light.

• Spend two minutes a day to write down three new things you are grateful for - for 21 days in a row.
• Journal about one positive experience you’ve had every 24 hours.
• Exercise.
• Meditate to allow your brain to focus on one thing at a time.
• Perform random acts of kindness.
• Write one positive email to someone you know every time you open up your inbox."                      

Shawn Achor TED talk

Now I do in general think of myself as a happy person however I have found myself lately, as everyone does at times, a bit more stressed and anxious than usual so I have decided to put real effort into trying this.  I will then applying to myself, teaching my classes and teaching my children. So I chose to try this format out as a way of organizing my positivity items items and sticking to it for at least the 21 days.