MAKING ROOM FOR GOOD THINGS TO HAPPEN

Do you feel that "good things just happen to you"? We need to aim towards positivity to combat our natural negativity bias.

GOOD THINGS JUST HAPPEN TO ME

Apparently there's a mantra that's been shared on TikTok lately that says "Good things just happen to me" with people sharing how this has manifested in their lives when they chose to focus their thinking around the phrase.

Mantras always feel a little "woo woo" to me, but my husband (the very pragmatic former Family Counsellor) says that it actually has some basis in science because our brains can be re-wired by what we choose to give our attention to. All this got me thinking....

TAKING OFF MY TOOLBELT AND HANGING UP MY LIFEBUOY

All my life I've been a fixer and a rescuer, but now it's time to step back and become a cheerleader instead.

BEING A FIXER AND A RESCUER

All my life I've been a fixer and a rescuer. It stems from being an oldest daughter and thinking that it was my responsibility to keep everything calm and on course. I'm very uncomfortable with discord and messiness, and I'll do all I can to calm the waters and to keep everyone else happy.

To be honest, it works well when life is fairly smooth, but when I encounter a very messy person or situation it can be exhausting running around trying to solve a problem that's often not mine to begin with. I've finally figured out that I need to change my approach...

MY THREE DELIGHTS FROM JANUARY

Consciously seeking small delights each day, week, and month - and sharing three of my favourites.

MY THREE DELIGHTS FROM JANUARY

As I mentioned at the beginning of January when I chose Delight as my Word of the Year, I thought I'd round off each month with three delights. For January and my first post in the series, I thought I'd share a personal delight, a thought about delight, and a quote about delight. 

So, without further ado here are my three delights for January...

FRIENDS, MENTORS, AND THOSE WE LOOK TO FOR ADVICE

Who do we go to for worthwhile advice? I choose people who model a genuine quality of life based on honourable values and positive choices.

WHO DO WE GO TO FOR ADVICE?

I read this snippet from an article by Adrian Barich in our newspaper recently:

Never take advice from people who aren't getting the results you'd want to experience.

I skimmed over it because Adrian is a former footballer and I was assuming he was talking about sporting results and achievement. But, he went on to say he listens to his friend's advice because: 

FOCUSING ON THE FLOWERS AND NOT THE WEEDS

Finding the roses and wildflowers in amongst life's thorns and weeds.

LIFE BECOMES WHAT WE LOOK FOR

I mentioned in my Word of the Year post last week that looking for joyful moments is the key to creating delight in my life. What I've come to see is that our life (and the world in general) is full of flowers and weeds - literally and figuratively. To live with delight involves the Frequency Illusion where we choose what we focus our attention on, we look for the flowers and ignore the weeds - or deal with them when necessary.

Today I thought I'd look a little more deeply at the flowers and the weeds....

FINDING DELIGHT IN THE YEAR AHEAD

I want to count my blessings, look for the positives, focus on the little glimmers of joy, and just take delight in the moments.

THE BEGINNING OF A NEW YEAR

Well, Christmas and New Year's Day have been and gone and it's time to settle into the year ahead. I feel like each year somehow is a little better than the last. I'm not sure if it's Midlife that gives me such contentment, or whether I've just found my groove and I'm genuinely happy with the life I have. Whatever it is, I'm grateful every single day for this age and stage.

That being said, it's the beginning of 2025 and time to choose a new Word of the Year. I've tried New Year's Resolutions, and Bucket Lists, or ignoring it all and just getting on with another year, but none of those really resonated with me until I came across the idea of choosing a Word that feels right and helps guide me through the year ahead.