Kevin's Watch

It's a fact that the most common trait among millionaires is a positive attitude; it's a fact that the most common trait among people who report satisfaction with their lives is a positive attitude.

It you are not a positive person and you would like to try to be more positive, you can train yourself to think differently. Thinking good thoughts can also help you live a longer, healthier life.

When you really define yourself, it's your habits that shine though and identify you. Well, maybe they don't all make you shine, but you can change any habit that you wish. It only takes 21 days. But you gotta keep at it. Even after the 21 days. Even when things suck.

For example, I saw that my three year old was getting upset with a video game. He was parroting the behavior of an older child. So when I had some time with him alone, we played a lot of games and I would act happy when he messed up and say something like, "OK, we get to try again." We did this a lot with a lot of activities. And I mess up a lot on purpose and act like it's no big deal or it's fun to try again. Now, when he slips up, whether it's a game or a task, it doesn't seem to bother him a bit. He just tries again. We continue practicing being positive and trying again daily, and for him, it will become a life habit.

So here is a place for positivity and good thoughts. You can quote inspirational sayings, create your own, share stories of good will, overcoming adversary, or success.


Here is a thought for the day:

Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.
Emerson

Harbinger wrote:...And I mess up a lot on purpose and act like it's no big deal or it's fun to try again. Now, when he slips up, whether it's a game or a task, it doesn't seem to bother him a bit. He just tries again.

Great technique.

--A

Positive thinking? Tell that to that snowman. :p

What a great technique, Harbinger.

Life sucks. I can't wait for it to be over. I'm positive the afterlife will be better.

"Think only good thoughts" (after you flip off the idiot driver in front of you)

Those are my good thoughts.......

Positive thinking? Tell that to that snowman. :p

LMAO



It’s not what happens to you, It’s what you do about it.

i have three days off a week, i have friends and family, i have a stack of graphic novels and books from the library. i have my dog.

life is good.

i have three days off a week, i have friends and family, i have a stack of graphic novels and books from the library. i have my dog.

That's great! People you love and who love you back. Time to spend with them. Leisure time and interests to make that time worthwhile. There are so many people in the world who don't have even that. You are a lucky man.

The most extraordinary thing in the world is an ordinary man and an ordinary woman and their ordinary children.
Gilbert Chesterton

Harbinger wrote:

i have three days off a week, i have friends and family, i have a stack of graphic novels and books from the library. i have my dog.

That's great! People you love and who love you back. Time to spend with them. Leisure time and interests to make that time worthwhile. There are so many people in the world who don't have even that. You are a lucky man.

The most extraordinary thing in the world is an ordinary man and an ordinary woman and their ordinary children.
Gilbert Chesterton

thank you - with my troubles at work i try to hold the positive. and like many here, this place/you people bring(s) me much happiness.

Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing flawlessly.

One of my personal favorites.

I have quoted it elsewhere: "Holding on to resentment is like drinking poison and expecting someone else to die."
For me, a good reminder -- although, I do have the gift of unencumbered sleep that gives me a refreshed and positive outlook on life every morning [except Mondays ]

dw

Harbinger wrote:For example, I saw that my three year old was getting upset with a video game. He was parroting the behavior of an older child. So when I had some time with him alone, we played a lot of games and I would act happy when he messed up and say something like, "OK, we get to try again." We did this a lot with a lot of activities. And I mess up a lot on purpose and act like it's no big deal or it's fun to try again. Now, when he slips up, whether it's a game or a task, it doesn't seem to bother him a bit. He just tries again. We continue practicing being positive and trying again daily, and for him, it will become a life habit.

You go, man! I noticed you used one expressions three times in there:
"a lot" =)
To me, that says... a lot!

Harbinger wrote:So here is a place for positivity and good thoughts. You can quote inspirational sayings, create your own, share stories of good will, overcoming adversary, or success.

Pssh, I want to participate in this thread practically every day if I get around to it!

Well... I thought this quote from a book said something different, but here it is:

Dr. Henry Cloud & Dr. John Townsend wrote:Let him observe you having a bad day but know that you'll take care of yourself.

The idea that when I'm having a bad day, the results of that bad day could actually be beneficial to my child's future, as he watches me problem-solving, and also sees that my world doesn't come to an end is... exciting and freeing to me.

Dr. Henry Cloud & Dr. John Townsend wrote:
Let him observe you having a bad day but know that you'll take care of yourself.


The idea that when I'm having a bad day, the results of that bad day could actually be beneficial to my child's future, as he watches me problem-solving, and also sees that my world doesn't come to an end is... exciting and freeing to me.

That's a good thought to keep in mind and I intend to incorporate it into my daily thinking. Thanks.

Remember the don't do as I do, do as I say? Wow. Parents should be the most important examples for their children.

The best thing you can give children, next to good habits, are good memories.
Sydney J. Harris 1903-1986

Here's a quote from my hubby. One day I was asking him, in desperation, what was the best way to get myself to stick to a habit. "Making a commitment" (which is often really just a declaration of a commitment) seemed extremely useless.
Trying to use external related factors to compel myself to do it wasn't work as well as advertised.
A friend and I had just been talking about trying to "trick ourselves into doing work that seems too much" around that time too... also something with which I'd had variable success.
He said:

Do the same thing five times.

(for someone like me, "five times" was more encouraging than 21 at that moment)

Harbinger wrote:When you really define yourself, it's your habits that shine though and identify you. Well, maybe they don't all make you shine, but you can change any habit that you wish. It only takes 21 days. But you gotta keep at it. Even after the 21 days. Even when things suck.

I bet you have a toolbox of other useful habits too that you've been intentional about... tell some stories about them?
I'd love more inspiration for working on my habits.
People's stories just "do it" for me.

I bet you have a toolbox of other useful habits too that you've been intentional about.

I just do what I have to.

I do look at the sunset almost every night. That time last 30 minutes or so before it's dark is my favorite time of day. I call it the witching hour. I have seen many amazing things in nature at that time of day. The nocturnal animals sometimes venture out at that time. I caught my biggest trout at that time of day.

I always hold doors for people. I always thank clerks/food service cashiers and smile at them. I brush every morning and night and floss daily. I never go to bed with dirty dishes in the sink. I always use my turn signals.

I remember a job interview once where I didn't like the interviewer at all and I could tell it was mutual, so when he asked me what my weakness was, I said, "redheads."

I remember another interview where I was asked for a sentence that described me. I said, "I'm the kind of guy that always stops for little kids with lemonade stands." I could tell it went over the guy's head.

Harbinger wrote:I remember a job interview once where I didn't like the interviewer at all and I could tell it was mutual, so when he asked me what my weakness was, I said, "redheads."

Love it!

Harbinger wrote: I remember another interview where I was asked for a sentence that described me. I said, "I'm the kind of guy that always stops for little kids with lemonade stands." I could tell it went over the guy's head.

Maybe he thought you were a pervert.

I once stated in an interview before the millenium that I was Y2K compliant.

Harbinger wrote:I do look at the sunset almost every night. That time last 30 minutes or so before it's dark is my favorite time of day.

Yay! Shocking to say I first discovered how vocal the birds are at that time as an adult.

I used to be pretty intentional about watching the sunrise before work... a few years back. *g*

I remember a job interview once where I didn't like the interviewer at all and I could tell it was mutual, so when he asked me what my weakness was, I said, "redheads."

I remember another interview where I was asked for a sentence that described me. I said, "I'm the kind of guy that always stops for little kids with lemonade stands." I could tell it went over the guy's head.

See... these kinds of things would never OCCUR to me. (cags' quote, too) Always been too busy stressin' how to be the "good girl" who I want to be, yet within the bounds of the "good girl" that I think they want...

Here's one I encountered a few weeks back:

Whenever I'm tempted to take myself too seriously, I remind myself that, in the animal world, it is the most intelligent creatures that play.

Today I took the kiddoes to the park and I decided that I would play too.
In the process, I remembered that when I was a girl, I had loved doing flips over a horizontal bar.
I decided to do a few flips, and then challenge myself to do a bunch of flips. It was fun, partly for different reasons than when I was a kid.
Also, I was decidedly less self-conscious than I was back then.
I think I'd enjoy doing this regularly.

And here's another quote I found in the same book today:

Woodrow Wilson wrote:I use as many brains as I have and as many brains as I can borrow.