Hi everyone!!
I don't have a project for you today. Instead, I want to take this opportunity to talk about something that has been on my mind for a while. . . positivity! In my recent survey, many people actually indicated that they enjoyed the personal glimpses into my life so I am going to try to offer more of those from time to time. This is one of those times. . .
The past few weeks have been a little difficult in the Strachan-Peyton household -mold issues (which is now fixed), leaking pipe (which will be fixed early next week), painting the bedroom (and due to the mold issues having to re-do my re-do LOL), tough decisions for the hubby about his graduate school future (masters, PhD, fellowships, research, internships, etc), having to cancel a fun trip, and well, you get the idea.
So I have been left with a decision to make. Will I let these events stress me out and bring me down or will I remain positive and find the good things about these trying situations. I could feel myself getting stuck in a rut and looking at only the negative parts. And that can be a downward spiral.
Well, in the end I chose positivity. I believe in the power of positive thinking. I tend to pick up on the energy (positive or negative) of the people around me and it is very easy for me to get caught up in the negativity. I tend to avoid very negative people for this very reason. And lately, I have needed more positive energy than usual.
In my quest for positive energy, I came across two very good resources that I want to share with you: A nice book and a nice website.
THE BOOK
The book is called
What Happy Women Know
by Dr. Dan Baker and Dr. Cathy Greenberg. There are other books that go along with this book, but I haven't read those. When I started this book, I was HOOKED. Some of the information is common sense (for example, money doesn't buy happiness), but some of it really hit me like a ton of bricks.
Having a degree in psychology, I appreciated the explanations in the book that were a little sciencey (not too much, they explain things pretty simply) and based on actual research and data. The book is based on a positive psychology perspective, which is a new perspective to me (it is a relatively new school of thought in the psychology world and most of my classes were about clinical psychology).
There is a whole chapter about perfectionism, which is one of the sections that hit me. I never considered myself a perfectionist, but turns out, I am wrong! I related to pretty much every single word in that chapter!
I set deadlines for myself (blog post at a certain time, have dinner made by a certain time, etc) and then beat myself up if they are not met, which is just totally ridiculous. I do the best that I can and that should be good enough! So I am going to try to live it.
This book has caused me to re-evaluate some of the things I am doing, and I am going to try to take charge of my own positivity more. Which brings me to the nice website I found.
THE WEBSITE
I decided to look on the internet for other things related to positive psychology and came across ThankfulFor.com .
This is basically a simplified version of Twitter (and much easier to use, LOL, I can't figure Twitter out!! HA HA), but you only post about what you are thankful for. And then you can go in and see what other people are posting that they are thankful for. The website is based on the idea of a gratitude journal (which is something positive minded people recommend that you write in each day and that helps your mind see the positive things in life).
I am going to be using this website to keep track of my positive thinking progress. In the book (mentioned above) it tells you to write down 5 things each day so I am going to try do just that. I linked it to my sidebar, not for you (well of course you are welcome to read mine and make your own), but so that I can keep track of it for myself. If I see it there, hopefully I will be more tempted to actually use it.
THE TAKEAWAY
In my positive quest, I have decided to be wholly committed to being the most positive person I can be. Yes, bad things happen, and yes they will continue to happen, but the important part is what I can take away from the situations and how I choose to carry myself. I am trying to let go of worry about imperfections and just do the best that I can.
So why am I telling you all this???
Because I hope that you choose happiness and positive thinking too! It makes you feel better, it makes other people feel better, and it can even add years to your life.
To me, this is about being a happier person. The past few years have been incredibly difficult because of school and now that I am a college graduate, I intend to take time to let myself be a happier person.
I hope that in reading this, you can take away something valuable for yourself.
