Win The Day.....Every Day.

“Each new day is a blank page in the diary of your life. The secret of success is in turning that diary into the best story” you possibly can.”― Douglas Pagels

Win The Day…………………

”A goal is a dream with a deadline, an action plan and a personal commitment.”

L.Sterling

“Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.”

Eleanor Roosevelt

Today is yours to mold…………Its going to start with your thoughts………….Empower yourself to keep your thoughts positive…this is your energy, your hope , your motivator. Your thoughts set you up to

 “ Win Your Day!”

What will it be? What choice/ Choices will you make today?

In order to be in charge of you and what is best   for you , you have to make decisions….choices, many in a  day….What  choices will have a direct effect on you being the best  you … you can be?

Think about :

Empowering  self  with positive  thoughts

Nutrition choices….we ARE what we eat….we know this…live  food promotes life, dead food promotes disease…………choices take milliseconds….consequences are part of what we have to live and manage with..,,,,,,,,,,,mindfulness promotes making better  choices.

Fitness/ Movement/- Daily exercise  improves mood, weight, and physical conditions……..is there a reason to not make this a priority today?

Goal steps: What  goal   are  you working  towards…is  there an action step you can make  today?

If not ,what is  the next  step?………plan to make it happen….sometimes, just  giving a  snap shot  or picture  of destination is  the hope  we need  to keep  going….you don’t have to  have  success every  day  to

Win The Day….but  you  do have to have a vision of it  and a desire  to reach it. On a day with little progress…..make  progress by being  patient  and  seeing  the result  worthy of barriers. 

Win the day? Or Lose the day?

Its a choice.

What about you? Do you need some down time? Daily it’s important to allow  the body and  the mind  to  experience  the relaxation response….basically allowing  a calm and a quiet time  for a little  while….take the time to allow  your self  to refresh….even on the worst  days , there is a point  where  you can  do no more…in that  case  you can make an effort  to take  care of  you…or  you can be miserable and  wear the  bad  day through the night.  It is a choice. The best way to  Win That kind of day would be  to   take good care of  yourself.

What will you do TODAY.....to WIN your day?

Goals Are Dreams With Action Steps....What's yours? What's your First Step?

 

Creating S.M.A.R.T. Goals

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Realistic

Timely

Specific: A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. To set a specific goal you must answer the six “W” questions:
*Who:      Who is involved?
*What:     What do I want to accomplish?
*Where:    Identify a location.
*When:     Establish a time frame.
*Which:    Identify requirements and constraints.
*Why:      Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal.
EXAMPLE:  A general goal would be, “Get in shape.” But a specific goal would say, “Join a health club and workout 3 days a week.”

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Measurable - Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set.
When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued effort required to reach your goal.
To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as……
How much? How many?
How will I know when it is accomplished?

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Attainable – When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them. You begin seeing previously overlooked opportunities to bring yourself closer to the achievement of your goals.
You can attain most any goal you set when you plan your steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows you to carry out those steps. Goals that may have seemed far away and out of reach eventually move closer and become attainable, not because your goals shrink, but because you grow and expand to match them. When you list your goals you build your self-image. You see yourself as worthy of these goals, and develop the traits and personality that allow you to possess them.

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Realistic- To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work. A goal can be both high and realistic; you are the only one who can decide just how high your goal should be. But be sure that every goal represents substantial progress.
A high goal is frequently easier to reach than a low one because a low goal exerts low motivational force. Some of the hardest jobs you ever accomplished actually seem easy simply because they were a labor of love.

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Timely – A goal should be grounded within a time frame. With no time frame tied to it there’s no sense of urgency. If you want to lose 10 lbs, when do you want to lose it by? “Someday” won’t work. But if you anchor it within a timeframe, “by May 1st”, then you’ve set your unconscious mind into motion to begin working on the goal.
Your goal is probably realistic if you truly believe that it can be accomplished. Additional ways to know if your goal is realistic is to determine if you have accomplished anything similar in the past or ask yourself what conditions would have to exist to accomplish this goal.
T can also stand for Tangible – A goal is tangible when you can experience it with one of the senses, that is, taste, touch, smell, sight or hearing.
When your goal is tangible you have a better chance of making it specific and measurable and thus attainable.

Focus On What you Have Control Over..For Positive Outcomes.

Power Of Positive thinking

'Thoughts Become Words, Words Become Actions"

The Power of Positive Attitude

By Remez Sasson

Positive attitude helps to cope more easily with the daily affairs of life. It brings optimism into your life, and makes it easier to avoid worry and negative thinking. If you adopt it as a way of life, it will bring constructive changes into your life, and makes them happier, brighter and more successful. With a positive attitude you see the bright side of life, become optimistic and expect the best to happen. It is certainly a state of mind that is well worth developing and strengthening.

Positive attitude manifests in the following ways:

Positive thinking.

Constructive thinking.

Creative thinking.

Expecting success.

Optimism.

Motivation to accomplish your goals.

Being inspired.

Choosing happiness.

Not giving up.

Looking at failure and problems as blessings in disguise.

Believing in yourself and in your abilities.

Displaying self-esteem and confidence.

Looking for solutions.

Seeing opportunities.

A positive attitude leads to happiness and success and can change your whole life. If you look at the bright side of life, your whole life becomes filled with light. This light affects not only you and the way you look at the world, but also your whole environment and the people around you. If it is strong enough, it becomes contagious.

The benefits of a positive attitude:

Helps achieving goals and attaining success.

Success achieved faster and more easily.

More happiness.

More energy.

Greater inner power and strength.

The ability to inspire and motivate yourself and others.

Fewer difficulties encountered along the way.

The ability to surmount any difficulty.

Life smiles at you.

People respect you.

Negative attitude says: you cannot achieve success.

Positive attitude says: You can achieve success.

If you have been exhibiting a negative attitude and expecting failure and difficulties, it is now the time to change the way you think. It is time to get rid of negative thoughts and behavior and lead a happy and successful life. Why not start today? If you have tried and failed, it only means that you have not tried enough.

Developing a positive attitude that will lead you to happiness and success:

- Choose to be happy.

- Look at the bright side of life.

- Choose to be and stay optimistic.

- Find reasons to smile more often.- Have faith in yourself and in the Power of the Universe.

- Contemplate upon the futility of negative thinking and worries.

- Associate yourself with happy people.

- Read inspiring stories.

- Read inspiring quotes.

- Repeat affirmations that inspire and motivate you.

- Visualize only what you want to happen.

- Learn to master your thoughts.

- Learn concentration and meditation.

Following even only one of the above suggestions, will bring more  into your life!

Try It for a day.....Win that Day ...Then try it again!

"The game of life is a game of boomerangs. Our thoughts, deeds and words return to us sooner or later with astounding accuracy."Florence Scovel Shinn

The Mental Health Benefits of Gratitude

The Mental Health Benefits of Gratitude  

                                                                     Michael Craig Miller, M.D.

The word gratitude comes from the Latin word gratia, which means grace, graciousness or gratefulness (depending on the context). In some ways gratitude encompasses all of these meanings.

Gratitude is a thankful appreciation for what a person receives, whether tangible or intangible. With gratitude, people acknowledge the goodness in their lives. In the process, they usually recognize that the source of that goodness lies at least partially outside themselves. As a result, gratitude also helps people connect to something larger than themselves— whether to other people, nature or a higher power.

Researchers who study gratitude find that it is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people:

    Feel more positive emotions

    Relish good experiences

    Improve their health

    Deal with adversity

    Build strong relationships

People feel and express gratitude in many ways. They may be grateful for past experiences and memories and for their present circumstances (not taking good fortune for granted as it comes). Maintaining a hopeful and optimistic attitude is a way people can have gratitude for the future.

Most important, a person can practice gratitude and develop it.

Research on Gratitude

Two psychologists, Dr. Robert A. Emmons of the University of California, Davis and Dr. Michael E. McCullough of the University of Miami, have done much of the research on gratitude.

In one study, they asked groups of participants to write a few sentences each week. One group wrote about things they were grateful for that had occurred during the week. A second group wrote about daily irritations or things that had displeased them, and the third wrote about events that had affected them (with no emphasis on them being positive or negative). After 10 weeks, those who wrote about gratitude were more optimistic and felt better about their lives. Surprisingly, they also exercised more and had fewer visits to physicians than those who focused on sources of aggravation.

Dr. Martin E. P. Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania tested the impact of various positive psychology interventions. Subjects in his research had to write and personally deliver a letter of gratitude to someone who had never been properly thanked for his or her kindness. Participants immediately displayed a huge increase in happiness scores (compared to a control group). This impact was greater than that from any other intervention, with benefits lasting for a month.

This research does not prove cause and effect. But most of the studies published on this topic support an association between gratitude and an individual's well-being.

Other studies have looked at how gratitude can improve relationships. For example, a study of couples found that people who took time to express gratitude for their partner not only felt more positive toward the other person, but also felt more comfortable expressing concerns about their relationship.

Managers who remember to say "thank you" to people who work for them may find that those employees feel motivated to work harder. Researchers at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania randomly divided university fundraisers into two groups. One group made phone calls to solicit alumni donations in the same way they always had. The second group — assigned to work on a different day — received a pep talk from the director of annual giving, who told the fundraisers she was grateful for their efforts. During the following week, the university employees who heard her message of gratitude made 50% more fundraising calls than those who did not.

How To Cultivate Gratitude

Gratitude helps people refocus on what they have instead of what they lack. And, although it may feel contrived at first, this mental state grows stronger with use and practice.

The following strategies are simplistic, but they are indeed ways to cultivate gratitude on a regular basis:

    Write thank-you notes. You can make yourself happier and nurture your relationship with another person by writing thank-you notes when you have received something from them that you enjoy. Also write one any time a person has had a positive influence on your life. Saying thank you in person may be more powerful. It's more than good manners to make a habit of saying thank you; you'll feel better too.

    Thank someone mentally. It may help also to think about someone who has done something nice for you, and mentally thank the individual. If you think it's appropriate, follow up with a note that might start, "I was thinking of you the other day, about the time you helped me …"

    Keep a "gratitude journal." Make it a habit to write down or share with a loved one thoughts about the advantages you have or the ways others have been generous with you. Think about what has gone right for you or what you are grateful for. Identify three to five things. As you write, be specific and think about the feelings you had when something good happened to you.

    Pray. People who are religious can use prayer to cultivate gratitude.

    Meditate. Mindfulness meditation involves focusing on the present moment without judgment. Although a very common technique is to focus on your breath, it is also possible to focus on what you're grateful for (the warmth of the sun, a pleasant sound, and so on).

Don't wait for Thanksgiving or religious holidays to practice these routines. Make them a constant part of your life and you may be rewarded daily.

***Michael Craig Miller, M.D. is the former editor-in-chief of the Harvard Mental Health Letter and an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Miller has an active clinical practice and has been on staff at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for more than 30 years.

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