Day One-Hundred and Eight ... A New Book

It took longer than usual for me to work my way through "Focus on the Good Stuff" by Mike Robbins but I did finish it. This was truly an excellent book with many useful and simple to follow steps to improve my appreciation of the world and people around me. I took notes and now have many great ways to improve my state of mind. It takes doing though, it is easy to take notes and then never look at them again. By doing I mean I need to follow through, it isn't enough to read the book, I need to put some things into action!

The particular suggestions I will put into practice are:

• a sunshine folder - this is a folder where I can keep thank you's, awards, achievements, photos, awards ... and take it out and look at it when a lift is needed
• a daily gratitude list - I have done it in the past and needed the nudge to pick it up again. It has been almost 2 months since I last wrote one in a notebook, until today that is!
• changing my state - that certainly worked last time I tried it
• sharing gratitude openly - this can be by sending thank you cards or verbally letting people know how I feel, the key is to express it and not only think it, to share your appreciation of others with them
• creating me time - I identified the things I would like to do for me time as a manicure or pedicure, a massage, a walk a Pueblo Park or a hike
• pick something about me to appreciate daily - something new every day and focus on it continuously during the day
• write one heartfelt thank you every week

This week I've already written three thank you notes, so I am ahead of the game. Needless to say that means my gratitude list has also been written!

There where three other practices I would like to add to the list above but I felt resistant to starting immediately. Resistance, insecurity. They are something to work towards for me:

• having an appreciation partner - someone to share what I appreciate with and to keep me focusing on the good stuff (technically I could say that everyone reading this blog is a sort of appreciation partner ... I just thought of that ... You're all hired!)
• ask people what they are grateful for - I'm not sure I can greet people with "What are you grateful for today" and I'm not quite sure what reaction I may get if I did ... but this is something to aspire too. Mike Robbins shares in his book how his voice mail message asks callers to leave what they are grateful for today when they leave a message. I love that idea as well ... I'm sure I will be ready to do that one day!
• transforming negativity technique - for now I will stick with changing my state, I am not sure I can do the entire technique just yet!

Now I have begun reading a very interesting book by Lynne McTaggart on quantum physics called "The Field". It has started out very entertaining yet it science based.

So ... what are you grateful for? (That wasn't so hard ...)

-Nicola Byrne

Man is the only creature that refuses to be what he is.

-Albert Camus