December 27, 2010

Carpe diem, quam minime credula postero


I managed to tilt the scales in my favour the past few days, as my mood has actually improved since I last blogged.

As promised I tried my best to remain positive, and it seemed to have worked. In the "Excuse Me, Your Life is Waiting" book, she provides a 30 day plan to help you think positively, or to change your energy flow as she calls it, since she claims it's not an easy step, and I certainly am living proof of that.

The 30 day method requires you to come up with a flip switch topic; whenever you start to feel down or think negative thoughts, or start to dwell on all of life's worries that weigh so heavily on our hearts and minds and keep us up at night, you immediately and intentionally turn your thoughts to this flip switch topic. The flip switch topic must be something you are grateful for in your life, something about yourself that you appreciate. It can big or small, meaningful or insignificant ... literally anything you feel grateful for or appreciate in your life. 

The love of a pet
The roof over your head
Your sense of humour
A good bowel movement

Seriously ... anything. The point is you start to think about this other thing that makes you happy, and you must really feel the joy and happiness about this thing. If that other ugly thought starts to seep back into your brain, you push it out and go back to your flip switch.

You need to have one flip switch topic per day; don't jumble around between multiple flip switches.  Pick one each day and stick with it for the entire day. And you must come up with a different flip switch each day for 30 days. Believe me, that part is not easy !!  I'm less than half way through my stint and I'm really having a hard time finding things to appreciate; I think one day I was grateful that I have nice hair.

The point of this exercise is to get you in the habit of feeling good all the time and to stop you from dwelling on the bad things. As you know, the concept of the Law of Attraction is that if you think good thoughts good things will happen, and vice versa.  So if you continue with this "woe is me" behavior, you will never have good things come to you and you will never realize your dreams.  Of course we all know you can't just wake up one morning and say to yourself "enough with the misery, I'm going to think nothing but happy, positive thoughts from this moment forward". 

You know what they say - if it were that easy, everyone would be doing it.

It takes hard work and practice, hence the 30 day plan.  Even the author herself, who claims the Law of Attraction changed her life for the better in every way possible, admits that she still had to work at it and still had bad days now and again. But she learned to nip those days in the bud quickly and easily ... over time. 

So far all the books I've read so far on this topic claim the most important act is for you to practice the act of gratitude.  Stop focusing on the negative and be grateful for what you do have, and more good things will come to you.

If you recall I wasn't overly disappointed with the fact I haven't sold my house yet but grateful that I was getting lots of showings. Lots of traffic is definitely a positive. And although I assumed with Christmas just a few days away I wouldn't be getting much activity, I had 3 showings this past week alone - and I got an offer !! :)  My agent presented it Christmas Eve, and I signed back a counter offer. Of course with the holiday things are now delayed, but the offer is technically still on the books and I'm awaiting their next move. I also have another showing today.

I'm pleasantly surprised and excited about all the activity, especially this time of year.  At the same time though, I'm nervous.  Although the thought of getting this next step under my belt is exhilarating, I still have no idea where I'm going to live, so that's a bit scary.  This is definitely one of the biggest steps in my plan, so getting it done makes this all very real.  Keep your fingers crossed for me :)

Another reason I'm feeling better is because of the season. The fact that I was stoked for Christmas proves to me that what I feel sometimes is just plain old sadness and stress, and that I'm not clinically depressed.  The Prozac can wait thank you very much.  Yes I can get really down sometimes, and at times that mood can last for a while, but I can just as easily snap out of it, and when I'm busy socializing and doing fun things, I'm as happy as can be.  As corny as it sounds, I was excited about the event of the day and getting together with my family, eating and drinking and sharing some laughs. Not a lot of people can say this, but I love our family gatherings. They're big and noisy and crowded, but such good times. My family rocks :)

And even though I gained over 6 pounds this month alone (yes you heard me, six pounds in less than a month), I'm still feeling okay. The last week or so were not good in terms of diet and exercise, but yesterday I did my meal planning, stocked up my fridge again with all the good stuff, and designed my next workouts, which I start today, NOT January 1st.  Try as we might it's really hard to stay on track this time of year, not just with all the events and tempting treats, but also because of all the activity and hustle and bustle of the season. As long as I get right back on track I figure I haven't done too much damage. Let's see how long it takes me to lose those 6 pounds ... a helluva lot longer than it took to put on, I can guarantee you that !!

No comments:

Post a Comment