BellaOnline Forums Beauty and Self Self Development How do you begin your day?

Did you know that your thoughts first thing in the morning can set the emotional tone for the entire day?
Yes, that's true!

So let me ask you this - How do you "emotionally" begin your day? Any positive tips you can share with us?

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Happy Earth Day!

~Sharon

I say to myself that it is a new day and anything is possible

Last year i started an experiment... I wanted to see how much happier i could become in a month. I picked a whole bunch of things to try, but what surprised me was one of the most simple things... something that even sounded a little silly to me at the time... wound up having the most effect! That's when i started the "What Am I Looking Forward to Today?" thread here. Each morning i tried to name three things in the day i could look forward to. On the days i felt depressed after nightmares and it was hard to find even one thing, i still forced myself to do it. Those days were the most rewarding because while i wracked my brains trying to think of positive things, my mind was off feeling sorry for myself or discouraged. Often the things I picked were very small, immediate things... my coffee... petting my cat... knitting... the weather... talking to someone. It made me realize that most of happiness IS made up of these little things, but that if we don't look for what's under our nose, we take it for granted and miss the happiness part. Sometimes i forget to do this each morning, but i always come back to doing it because it works so well. Later, i started adding reviewing my day in the same way... What things am i grateful for? What were the best parts of the day? This is much better than thinking about what i didn't get done or what i have to do tomorrow.

That is true Holly - the little things are actually the BIGGEST things

I start my day by going through my positive "to do" list in my head. At the end I say, "Today I am grateful for ..." then I get out of bed with an attitude of gratitude.

There are some days, of course, where I don't wake up in that positive attitude.... I think I woke up yesterday on the wrong side of the bed because I had a bad dream. I talked myself out of it but that is why we have to try so hard, for the bad days!

I'm sorry to hear you've been having nightmares, BillieCat. Wish i could help in some way.

Hi Holly:

At least I don't have bad dreams every night - most of the time I have good dreams; it really affects your morning after waking up to a bad dream.
It helps to come here, don't you think?

It does. I hope i don't sound crabby on those mornings after nightmares. I worry about that. I haven't been having as many as i did in the winter, until this last week. I kinda know what stirred it up this week for me... something happened that reminded me of the past.

You know, so many people I've talked to have had trouble sleeping this week! We had a full moon a couple days ago, but even still it seems really odd that so many people had trouble in the last four nights! I think more than half the people i know mentioned it this week. I wonder if that's just a coincidence or if the moon and the weather, etc. is behind it?

But it does help to come here. Sharon always has something interesting for us to think about and even just the company is good.

I work out a "to do" list the night before. Then when I get up I'm focused on what I want to accomplish during my day.

I'm a morning person so I use the morning as my best time of the day.

I start out too visualizing and affirming positive things for my day.