Articles / Daily Positive Thought

Social Distancing Does NOT Mean Social Isolation

Hi Everyone, This has been a trying time for everybody.  We are social distancing and for some, it's turning into social isolation.  It's a lesson we all need to learn.  social distancing does not mean social isolation.  But as I said, this is a very trying time, and we are all trying to navigate the uncharted waters of Covid-19. As I have mentioned before, I'm a teacher, and with schools closed, we've shifted to an online model and it hasn't been easy.  I literally find myself working and interacting with kids all hours of the day - and night.  Yes, I get text messages and emails whenever the kids decide to work.  I've received messages as late (or as early depending on your perspective) as 2:42 in the morning!  Working from home is a time management and time balancing act I am ill-prepared to manage.  It's killing me because if ever there was a time for thinking positive, it's now! There are four people in my house, so I am not socially isolated, but in a way I am.  Looking at the same faces day in and day out can be a struggle, I am learning, and no amount of…

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April 9, 2020
Author / Book / Daily Positive Thought

Now is the Time to Think Positive – Free Book

Hi Everyone, I know our world is in a huge kerfluffle right now.  This virus - Covid 19 is serious.  People all over the world are getting sick, and people are dying.  We're social distancing, quarantining as needed, and in some cases going into shelter in place.  It's scary, it's depressing, it's overwhelming and it's very negative.  My school will start remote teaching/learning on Monday and everybody's stress level is through the roof.  I can only imagine that it's like that pretty much everywhere for all sorts of different reasons. During this time, it's so easy to fall into negative, defeatist thinking, but that's the last thing we want to do!  The goal is to remain as upbeat and positive as possible.  I want to do my part to help you.  I'm making the ebook version of Thinking Positive: Take the Journey into Positivity free on Amazon.  It's free, starting tomorrow, for the next 5 days, so if you don't have a copy yet, now is your chance to download it for free.  I'm hoping to get the companion Book The Thinking Positive Toolbox ready for publication in the next week to help people remain positive in this very trying…

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March 20, 2020
Articles / Daily Positive Thought

Looking on the Bright Side

Most of you know, I'm a HUGE proponent of looking on the bright side of things.  I am always looking for the good in the bad.  I may not always find it, but I do look.  That being said, I had a very interesting conversation in the writing class I am taking.  The instructor had asked to see a copy of my book Thinking Positive: Take the Journey into Positivity, so with much fear and quivering hands, I gave her a copy last week. At the end of class last night, we talked about it and one of the women in the class asked if it was all touchy feely, looking on the bright side. Now, I don't think it really is, and I told her as much, and she was relieved.  She then went on to relate a story.  Her mom was terminally ill, and she called a friend to talk about it, and that friend responded with, well look on the bright side, you'll get to see your brothers.  I was appalled.  There are times when you can be looking on the bright side, and there are times when you just need to grieve, vent and rail against…

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February 18, 2020
Daily Positive Thought

Become Remarkable

People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking that they can do things. When they believe in themselves they have the first secret of success. - Norman Vincent Peale I love this quote!  To me it's saying that in order for you to become remarkable, you have to believe you are remarkable.  You need to believe in yourself!  I'm taking a little writing course on Monday nights, and last night, the instructor had us rate ourselves as writers on a scale of 1 - 10 and hold up our numbers.  They ranged from 4 to 7, and let me tell you, the instructor was very disappointed in our opinions of ourselves. Some of it was a cultural thing, I think.  We are not encouraged to think that we are all that and a slice of cake.  But guess what, you are, I am, we all are.  The instructor asked us how could we expect people to believe in our writing if we don't believe in our own ability to write?  She is right.  I want to become a remarkable writer, and in order to become remarkable, I have to first believe that I am remarkable. Believe in yourself.  That…

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January 28, 2020
Daily Positive Thought / Gratitude

The Reason

Everything happens for a reason, you only need to keep on editing your attitude and gratitude so as to sail through. - Unknown I haven't felt like writing for a while. I could give you chapter and verse as to why, but in the end, it doesn't really matter. I just haven't felt like writing, so I haven't been writing. I don't have a concrete reason, I just haven't felt like writing.  And yet, tonight, here I am writing and the reason for that is I am grateful.  I had something happened to me this weekend which totally sent me over the deep end into the gratitude pool.  That's not to say I had a bad attitude before or wasn't grateful for things that had happened, because I was. But right now, I am splashing around in that deep end of the gratitude pool and it feels good, and what do you know, I'm sitting here writing! Is there a correlation?  Maybe, maybe not.  I don't know, and you know what?  I don't care either.   I'm not going to dig through my psyche and try and figure out the why and why not of my not writing.  I don't need…

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January 27, 2020
Being Grateful / Daily Positive Thought

New Year New You? No Way!

Facebook is full of all the New Year New you posts and to that I say NO WAY!  I like who I am.  I'm not perfect, not by any stretch of the imagination.  Are there things I can improve upon in my life?  Absolutely.  I need to lose weight, I need to stop procrastinating and a myriad of of things.  But those are habits that I need to change.  I don't need to change who I am at my core and neither do you -unless you WANT to.  It's a choice you need to make for you, and nobody else can make it for you and they shouldn't talk you in to making changes you don't want to make. Don't get caught up in the you have to weigh this much, or wear these clothes or belong to this group.  You do you because you are wonderful.  Another super important thing to remember is if you do want to do something different in your life, you can start right now.  You don't have to wait until next Monday or next month, or in the case of tomorrow, next year.  You start when you are ready. I'm not making resolutions this…

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December 31, 2019
Daily Positive Thought

Be Like Michael

I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. - Michael Jordan I think pretty much everybody agree that Michael Jordan was a phenomenal athlete, and an extremely successful one as well.  We should all try and be like Michael.  Not because we should all try and be first class athletes.  That's a nice dream, but we can't all do that, there'd be nobody to watch if we were all playing  :)  No we should all adopt his attitude of trying and failing.  Michael Jordan wasn't afraid to try and he wasn't afraid of failing.  He let go of the fear of failing and it helped him to succeed. That's pretty amazing. When you think about it, some of his biggest failures were on national television and live in front of thousands of fans. His lack of fear of failing led him to keep trying and trying, and as a result, having more and more success.  Imagine what your like if you would allow yourself…

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October 18, 2019
Daily Positive Thought

Who Are You

I know for sure that what we dwell on is who we become. - Oprah Winfrey Who are you? If you're like most people you have probably asked yourself that question at least a couple of times.  The Law of Attraction, and Oprah for the sake of this quote, say you become what you focus upon, and to some extent I think that's true.  I actually talked about it with my students this past week in school.  We had watched the movie Cinderella Man and were talking about what it means to have a positive attitude.  One thing I wanted the kids to come away with is that a positive attitude doesn't necessarily mean rainbows, fluffy bunnies and unicorns.  A positive attitude is when you work to make the best of what you have, or what life tosses at you. In the movie, Jimmy Braddock, played by Russell Crowe had been given a rough row to hoe during the Depression.  Through out the movie, we see that it would have been so easy to just give up, but in the words of one of my students, he just "lived his best life."  Jimmy Braddock didn't dwell on what he didn't…

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October 17, 2019
Daily Positive Thought

Mistakes are Okay

When we give ourselves permission to fail, we, at the same time, give ourselves permission to excel. - Eloise Ristad For the longest time, I thought mistakes were bad.  You didn't want to make mistakes, you wanted to get the right answers and have all your projects work out correctly, right?  That's what I thought, but I was wrong.  Mistakes are okay.  I may even go so far as to say that mistakes can be a good thing. I know it sounds crazy, but it's true.  Think about it. If you never push yourself, if you never try, you may succeed at what you're trying to do, but what are you missing out on?  You're missing out on the chance to find more, create more, discover more.  You're missing out on the chance to excel and to soar. I know that it seems counter intuitive to say it's okay to make mistakes and it's okay to fail.  But really it is.  Giving yourself permission to fail may take you out of your comfort zone, but that's not a bad thing.  So tell yourself, that it's okay to take chances, it's okay to try something new, it's okay to fail, and…

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October 16, 2019
Daily Positive Thought

Life Doesn’t Have To Be Perfect

Do not dwell so much on creating your perfect life that you forget to live. - Unknown Have you ever gotten so obsessed with making sure something is perfect that you forget to enjoy it?  I have!  Think about a vacation you may have planned.  You can get so caught up in the planning and the itinerary, focusing on where you need to be next instead of enjoying where you are right now.  Think about weddings.  Brides and grooms strive to create the perfect day, and when it's over, they can't remember anything about that day.  Or worse, a small issue, like napkins in the wrong shade of ivory, can turn into a giant catastrophe. It's good to have goals and to strive to make things as good as they can be.  I want to have the best life possible.  But I don't want to miss out on the life I have right now in trying to make my life perfect.  The fact of the matter is, it's never going to be perfect.  Instead of stressing out over them, embrace the imperfections and you may find that they add to your life and make it even better.  But the only…

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October 15, 2019