Look In The Mirror

Look in the mirror and find something I like about myself: my eyes, smile, posture, hair etc. Be grateful for that part of me that I like or even love and write it down in my gratitude journal. I am grateful for my ….

Update: I wrote the following entry in my gratitude journal. I am grateful for my smile. It softens my face and makes me look approachable.

Speak Positively About Myself

Listen to my inner voice and my outer voice. Today, I will be intentional with not putting myself down. I'll replace any negative comments about myself with something positive.

Update: Today was a stress free Sunday for me and as such, my voice was pretty tame. I'll try this one again tomorrow.

Exquisite Speech

Listen to others speak. If others say something inappropriate, I'll try to think of a different way that they could have spoken. I'll also be listening for positive speech.

I'll continue to correct any inappropriate speech from myself.

Update: I had the misfortune of going food shopping on a crowded Saturday morning. In crowded places, people seem more tense. Maybe that's why I heard negative and rude speech in the store. There were some hurtful things said between family members. The highlight of my shopping trip was when my cashier put a huge smile on my face. As I left, she told me to have a beautiful day. How could I not after she said those lovely words to me.

Speech has the power to make me feel good and also to feel bad about myself and others. I don't want to make others feel bad because I thoughtlessly said something that was inappropriate. I am in pursuit of exquisite speech from myself.

Remove Negativity From My Speech

Listen to myself speak today. Whenever I find myself speaking negatively, I'll correct it by immediately turning it into something positive.

I remember when my children were younger, sometimes I would say something to them that I would have given anything to take back. Parenting is filled with opportunities for repeat performances. This exercise will also provide me with opportunities to correct any negativity that creeps in when I speak.

Update: This is an interesting exercise and a difficult one. There were a few times when I adjusted what had started to come out of my mouth. It does feel better to not have regrets from what I've said. My speech isn't perfect, but I will continue to pay attention to what I say. I feel like I'm pretty good with my speech, but there is definitely more work that I need to do.

Compliments Giver

Pay 2 or more people a compliment.

Update: A friend told me that I made her feel really good after paying her a compliment. I have to admit that her response really made my day.

Compliment Giver

Pay someone a compliment today.

Update: I paid a compliment to a student that was a college campus tour guide. He thanked me. I was surprised at the ease in which this 20 year old received his compliment. Good for him.

Receiving a Compliment

This builds on the please and thank you exercise.

Appreciate when someone pays me a compliment and say thank you rather than something like “This old thing” or “No, I didn't lose weight.” or “It wasn't that difficult.” or “Next time I'll do better.” etc. Being dismissive of someone's compliment is not being gracious to that person. Saying thank you is a way for me to show my gratitude for the compliment.
I hope someone pays me a compliment tomorrow.

Update: After 17 days, someone has finally paid me a compliment. (Today is March 11, 2010.) You know the saying, “When it rains it pours.” I was paid three compliments today. One on what I was wearing. Thank you. Next, was one on my beautiful eyes. Their words not mine. That was by a coworker that I don't know very well and it took me by surprise. Lastly, and my favorite, was someone paid me the compliment of telling me they trusted me. Wow, I'm feeling pretty good right now.

Please and Thank you

Be intentional today with saying please and thank you.

Gratitude Journal.....again

I am going to repeat day 6's exercise of writing in my gratitude journal, but Iwill write my entries in the morning before I start my day. Since I wrote 12 entries on Day 6, my challenge is to write 12 more entries of what I have to be grateful for. Additionally, I will not repeat any entries from the day before.

Update: I liked writing in my journal in the morning. It seemed to set the tone for my day. Putting in writing some of things I appreciate and am grateful for helped make me feel positive. Several of the entries I wrote, were dreams or wishes that I had for my life. I'm not sure why I did that, but that is what came out of me as I was writing. The dreams were written as if they were already part of my life. Maybe I planted a seed for what I need to be working towards.

Gratitude Journal

Start a journal or notebook of gratitude. Though I could continue to say what I am grateful for out loud, I'm hoping that when I write it down, it will help me appreciate and realize all that I have in my life. My intention is to write entries of gratitude in my journal several times a week.

Update: It's Saturday and I spent part of the day doing chores. I was getting a little tense as I witnessed 2 separate car drivers at a traffic light, standing outside of their cars, yelling and cursing at each other. A short time later, a person in another car let me make a left in front of them onto a busy road. As I have been practicing gratitude, I am trying to look past the stress makers and become more aware of all that I have to be grateful for, in this case it was the kindness of a stranger.

Today I wrote a list of 12 items I am grateful for. I wrote it in the format of I am grateful and thankful for … This was repeated for all 12 entries. My entries were written in the evening. I'm curious if I had written in my gratitude journal at the start of my day, if it would have helped me deal with the tensions of shopping and driving in a crowded, intense environment.

Make Someone Happy

I will be intentional about smiling as I walk past people I see: my coworkers, people in the food store and especially, children. My goal is to smile at at least 10 people.

Update: I was really impressed with the positive response I got from others. There were return smiles from most people. I also got a blank stare or two that made me smile even more. Today felt great and it gave me a dose of positiveness whenever someone genuinely smiled back.

My Olympic Run

The Olympics are on right now. While one of the athletes was waiting to start his ski run, the commentator mentioned that the skier was visualizing his race the way he wanted it to go. I'm going to take that idea for my own.

I will wake up and picture how I want my day to go. Throughout the day, if things aren't going the way I visualized, I'll bring back that positive picture. I'll ask myself if there is a change I can make so my day will go the way I hoped. If so, I'll make the change to get me there.

Update: I wondered if this exercise had anything to do with living a life of gratitude, but I was joyously surprised. Visualizing helped me remain calm when, first thing in the morning, I was greeted by an active, intense person. I spoke with a low, calm voice which brought their intensity and voice level down. It was just as I visualized. Whenever I needed to get my day back to the way I wanted, I would shut my eyes and remember how I wanted the day to go. I have such a feeling of gratitude for having tried, and been successful with, visualization. I felt peaceful today and I'm planning on bringing this activity back often.

Being Pleasant

Be intentional with saying good morning, good afternoon, good evening and hello.

Update: I found people, especially children, responded with smiles and greetings of their own. It made me feel really good and positive throughout my day.

Eyes Wide Open

I would like to build on Day 1's exercise. I will wake up and say, “I am thankful and grateful for ….” I will complete this statement with a variety of things such as: I am thankful and grateful for Rascal, (He is my cat and usually is sitting on my bed waiting to be pet each morning.), I am thankful and grateful for this hot shower, I am grateful and thankful for my children, I am grateful and thankful for my nice smelling shampoo, I am grateful and thankful for my hair dryer. Etc. I'd like to keep this up for as much of my morning routine as possible. I am hoping this will remind me that I have tons to be grateful for, from the mundane to the truly important stuff, and that this gratitude will follow me throughout my day.

Update: I didn't enjoy saying I was grateful and thankful for insignificant things like my hairbrush, toothbrush etc., but I did get a real appreciation for my loved ones, my warm home on this wintry day, and my car that got me safely to work. The greatest gift of this exercise was the gratitude I felt for my loved ones. I'd like to try this one when I am out for a walk alone and see where it takes me.

Day 1

Take the time to appreciate at least 1 good thing in my life. It could be anything: a kiss from a loved one, a hot shower, a good cup of coffee, an unexpected compliment, having a job to go to, or a neighbor saying hello. There are good things all around me and I want to be intentional with recognizing and appreciating this good.

Update: There were 2 times during my day when I remembered to appreciate the good situation I was in. Then I went on with my day and let the good feelings drop. The exercise left me wanting more.

Why I'm Here

Do you ever meet those people that just seem to have a glow about them? They make you feel good just being in their presence. You get the feeling that they love life, feel good in their own skin and know that their life is good. I want to be one of those people. I want to live a life filled with gratitude, joy, and positiveness. I believe that intentionally practicing gratitude is the path I should take to get me there. Starting January 1st, I decided to do one activity each day to work toward my goal, a life of gratitude. What I found is that I enjoyed the coming up with the ideas, but I wasn't doing the daily activity I wrote down. That is the reason for this blog. I figured if it was out in a public forum, I would be more intentional with following through on my ideas.

My game plan is to write an idea in the evening and the next day be intentional about following the activity. I'll write here about how things go, and share whatever insights I have about it.

So here we go.