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.
So now I'm working on finding my ultimate WIN / token. Suggestions are welcome.
Who knows. Maybe it's lipgloss.
... It's probably lipgloss.
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.
I know it's not perfect, but for those of you that still can't read it, it says "Sometimes you just have to put on lipgloss and pretend to be psyched." It's a quote from Mindy Kaling -- one of the most hilarious and fabulous people in Hollywood, IMHO (her book, "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me" is next on my list of books I desperately want to dive in to).
Some days it can be really hard to be psyched. Some days you're just not feelin' it, or things aren't awesome, or that guy you knew was bad news broke your heart for the thousandth time (not a la Christopher Nolan this time, though). But one really easy way to pretend to be psyched is to relive that major WIN, recognize that you're pretty much awesome (or at least you were at one point in time), and project that natural happiness from your past onto your current attitude.
Because guess what -- being off kilter or down in the dumps or whatever you want to call it is not reality. Happiness and light and joy should be your reality (ahem, "men are that they might have joy," anyone??). Don't get me wrong, there is definitely a place for sorrow and loneliness and hurt, and "mental health days" spent away from the stress of your life are really really great (heck -- that's essentially what the last three days have been for me), but if I can find a token to keep me tied to reality and joy and what really matters, I'm game.
I mean, at a very basic level, that token should be faith, but I'll be the first to admit that sometimes it takes a little more than that to get me out of bed. So having a very physical and tangible real life experience where I totally ROCKED at something can't hurt, right?
My mom also taught me about the power of self-fulfilling prophesies (that, and the fact that I did a massive research paper on them in my Psychology class in college). If you believe in yourself, others will believe in you. If you believe you have lots of great friends, you will have lots of great friends. If you build it, they will come. Things like that.
The same idea also goes for any negativity in your life. For example, an acquaintance of mine and I had a minor-ly uncomfortable situation last week. I felt like things were awkward, so they got awkward. They definitely didn't have to be, but I thought she was upset, so my behavior towards her, in turn, made her upset.
So stupid.
So if self-fulfilling prophesies are real, and negativity only begets negativity, why would you invite more of that into your life???
Also stupid.
So now I'm working on finding my ultimate WIN / token. Suggestions are welcome.
Who knows. Maybe it's lipgloss.
... It's probably lipgloss.
