Happiness Journal

You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.- John C. Maxwell

I want to share something with you that I hope will have a profound and positive impact on your life.  I recently made a few simple changes in my daily routine to incorporate some basic principles of Positive Psychology that reinforce happiness.  It takes 5 minutes of my morning and another 5 minutes before bed...Easy!

When I start my day in the morning:

1.  I write down three things in my life for which I am grateful.

2.  Then I write down three things that, if they happen, will make my day GREAT.

3.  Then I state a positive affirmation about myself that I TRULY believe. (The important element here is the emotion that stating the affirmation evokes.  Does it make me feel REALLY good about myself?)

4.  Finally, I think of some aspect of my life that is bringing me (or has brought me) tremendous freedom, love or joy.  With that thought, I think of some person (or group of people) who doesn’t have (or hasn’t been able to experience) that aspect in their own life.  Then I allow myself to sincerely feel the deep desire that the person is able to create that aspect and similarly experience the freedom, love, or joy in his or her life that I have in mine.

Before I go to sleep

1. I write down three amazing things that happened to me today.

2. Then I write down one way that I could have made my day better.Simple!

I have adopted this routine because practices such as these have been shown to engender greater happiness in life, and are praised by those in the field of positive psychology.  If you are interested in learning more about this and/or discussing how you can customize elements of this for your own routine, I’m HAPPY to refer you to some additional resources.

Yours in gratitude,