It’s the start of a new week and the clocks just shifted to spring us all forward in our lives. I’m sure a lot of us are thinking about the new week and all that we’d like to do and how we’d like to be and I’m no different.At the beginning of each week, I sometimes have a sense of dread about all the details and items to take care of. But lately, I’ve started a new habit to shift my perspective a little bit more positive. It started recently, when, after acknowledging that the beginning of the week was not a favorite of mine, I decided to be a problem-solver about these feelings. I want to face the start of each new week with a calmer demeanor…well…because the likelihood of there being more weeks in the future to face is 100%!
Raising your Joy Quotient
So I started cogitating on the best way for me to keep my attitude good and my heart strong. My solution became my newest habit; spending 10-15 minutes in the mornings thinking through some of my concerns, worries or anxieties about that day or the week and trying to ask God and the universe to help me with finding the best ways to address each of these concerns and move forward in positive ways. It worked. And the clarity gained when I clear my day of this mind clutter is remarkable.
An additional benefit to this new practice is when I do this regularly, I notice that my “Joy Quotient” is higher. I notice that I spend a little less time during the day fretting over the small things and more able to move towards finishing and accomplishing goals and having more peaceful and calm relationships with family and friends. This has now become a daily habit, not just a “start of the week thing.”
Having moved this blechy energy into it’s allotted time slot, I’m freer to go on and feel happier throughout my day without thinking “oh, I have to think about X or worry about Y.” On occasion when this practice fails to work, (like when I find myself with ootsy energy about something going on in the middle of the day,) I start a list in my mind of 100 Thank You’s. Sometimes I repeat much of the same stuff as the last time I did my 100 Thank You’s…and sometimes it’s totally new.
This is where I start by being thankful for things in my life, from the mundane to the profound. When I start, I often start by saying something like, “Thank you for my feet, so I can walk, my legs so I can stand, my stomach so I can digest food, my brain so I can think, my ears so I can hear, etc.” Sometimes I spend the whole time saying things like, “Thank you for my work, thank you for my apartment, thank you for my friends and mentors.”
One can give thanks for anything, but the core idea is to do at least 100 Thank You’s as a way to focus on gratitude. That can often tip us towards a more positive mindset. As you do your thank yous, you can address them to the universe, to God, to yourself, to whatever makes you feel most grateful. I like to try for 100 because after I reach that (and it doesn’t take long to acquire a list of what to be grateful for when you start listing body parts or items of clothing or everything that went into making your morning tea or coffee,) it seems my mind has calmed down. And it’s returned to its natural calmer, happier place.
What will you do this week to work on Raising your Joy Quotient?
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