I'm currently reading a book called "Freedom From Fear Forever" after a friend lent it to me. Chapter 4 is all about recording life's most successful moments (the author calls them WINS), and Chapter 5 is about reliving and harnessing that success-driven euphoria.

The author's mentor (who's advice the book is basically regurgitating) recommended that he write down his most successful WIN ever, and describe the WIN with as many details as he could. Then to reflect on that good day, good week, good experience, good opportunity, etc. whenever you feel yourself get in a funk or find yourself a little off course.

The mentor called this a talisman.

I had to laugh when I read that, because all I could think about was the movie Inception. Each character in the movie had a talisman or token that only they knew how it worked in the real world. It helped them keep perspective on what was the dream world and what was reality. And *SPOILER ALERT* we'll never really know if they were in the dream world or the real world because the stupid spinning top looked like it started to topple, but never actually stopped spinning before the screen went black because Christopher Nolan is an evil, horrible, terrible man who just likes to toy with my emotions.

But, the same basic principle applies here -- because, really, at the end of the day, there probably aren't words to describe exactly why that made you happy or exactly how you felt during that WIN, so nobody else will truly know how your WIN impacted you.

Now, I'm all about living for now and not letting your past decide your future, but I totally see the value in harnessing that natural high from a great experience.

My mom is wise. My entire life, any time I have a bad day, she'll say something along the lines of, "Guess what. You'll have bad days. You'll also have really great days. If you didn't have bad days, those good days wouldn't be as good. So when you have a good day, really live it, and take advantage of that joy. And when you have a bad day, remember those good days and look forward to your next really great day to counteract the bad day you're having now."

Something like that.

Basically, she's a genius. And the best.

Last night, I wrote this on my chalkboard in my bedroom.