Happiness Blog April 15, 2019

Let’s keep building on the novelty in our life and start bringing the novel into our daily routine. Sometimes life can become monotonous, and this can really bring the overall mood down. I find that shaking up the routine can be rejuvenating because it shakes up our thought patterns. If we do the same thing every day in the same way, most often our automatic thoughts take over. This is fine if your automatic thoughts are positive; sadly, most people’s are not. Changing our morning routine jump-starts the process of deconstructing our negative automatic thoughts.

For example, waking up with the intention of having a pleasant morning experience can set the tone for the day. Ask yourself: What is one thing I can do in the morning that will teach my brain that today can be a good day? For those who have a morning beverage, reflect on how you can make that process more luxurious. Another alternative is to take a few extra minutes in the shower to exfoliate and moisturize. The goal is to introduce a moment of positivity and novelty into your morning.

Maximizing positivity, and overcoming negativity, anxiety, and depression is a process. Reflecting on how you start your day and looking for ways to inject positivity and self-love into your morning increases the likelihood that you will have more good days than bad, which is the goal. We are not seeking perfection or Pollyanna level joy but, rather, to tip the scales so that our life is more positive than negative. Starting the morning thinking about how we can improve our day is always a good thing.

Posted on Monday: 15 April, 2019