Wednesday, August 3, 2011

BUILDING THE BEST YOU

As you know I do a lot of reading.  I came across some really good advise:

Build the things that make a life worth living your priority.  Notice the negative things you say to yourself.  Try an exercise:  pretend the negatives were said by someone "whose mission in life was to make [you] miserable,"  and then fight back.  That way, says Martin Seligman, "you don't blindly accept you own insults."

Nurture your strengths, not your negativity.

Nurture human virtues:  Satisfaction, Contentment, Fulfillment, Pride, Serenity.

Ask youself "What's right?" and live your life around those strengths.

So this evening I took an assessment.  Where am I in the scale of negative vs. positive.

I got up this morning; straightened the bathroom and started a load of laundry while getting ready for work.  I got to work and began my day and stayed organized completing the various goals that I had set for the day.  When I returned home I met my daughters in the backyard to see how their day went and then spent time harvesting produce from the garden. 

I felt like that I accomplished a great deal and that I have stayed organized while there was intermittent interuptions that pulled me from various tasks.  Only for a moment was I frustrated at work.  Personal issues at home made me sad for a little while.  Overall the day was good.

I am grateful that I have a job.  I am grateful I have a home.  I am grateful for my Dad, who is always there when I need to talk.

Today I was challenged by the mistakes of a co-worker.  The mistakes generated more work that required my immediate attention pulling me from my scheduled tasks.  I was able to overcome this challenge by coming up with a solution and found an opportunity to train and instruct preventing future errors.

I found a moment to spend some time savoring a nice warm cup of carmel chocolate latte (hot chocolate frothed up with carmel) while I wrapped up my work for the day.