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I was driving home last night and for the first time since summer it was dark, rainy and cold. Not only that but the traffic was really heavy and there were roadworks no matter which route I seemed to take.
As I was sat in traffic I noticed how frustrated I was becoming, my thoughts turned to getting home and then having to take my dog out for a walk in the rain and then she’d get all muddy and then the house would get dirty and I’d be tired….blah blah blah… Suddenly… with these thoughts running around my head I realised that I was forcing myself to be in a bad mood.
I felt rubbish and yet the feeling wasn’t changing any of the triggers (weather, traffic etc).
So I turned off the radio and put on a Motivational CD about Positive Psychology with Andy Cope. I was fortunate enough to meet Andy at a conference a few weeks ago where we were both speaking. Please do visit his website http://www.artofbrilliance.co.uk/
It took a further 25 mins to work my way through the traffic and get home but in that time my thoughts were changing to look at life more positively. No matter what I did I knew the traffic was still going to be heavy, the rain was still going to fall and I still had to walk my dog. But I could either arrive home with all that happening in a good mood or a bad mood.
Changing my mood meant I was able to walk in the door and influence a better evening by keeping positive.
I know it is easier to be in a bad grumpy down mood when it’s raining and cold, but let’s face it I live in England and it’s now WINTER time and it will get dark early for the next 4-5 months. So I am going to do what I need to do in order to make my life happy no matter the weather or traffic
What do you do to keep yourself HAPPY during challenging times? and How do you react to people who are just grumpy no matter what?… (As Andy Cope call’s them…Mood Hoovers)
Got to love this headline… A lovely weekend weather wise and the headline says as much. But typically it follows with a negative suggestion that ‘grey skies are coming’.
So after a fabulous weekend we are influence by this headline to think that grey skies are BAD. we’re heading into winter in the UK, the clocks will change soon (watch out of the usual moaning and negative headlines around that).
So should I now be miserable for the rest of the winter as these ‘grey skies’ come in?
I know it is easy to feel happy when the sun shines and it’s warm but what makes grey skies bad?
We can’t change the weather so I’m choosing to be happy and about the weather no matter what and focus on what I can do to be happy rather than be influences to be negative about it.
BBC News – Pirate Johnny Depp makes surprise school visit.
You know, every now and again someone who seems to be beyond the reach of ‘ordinary’ people do things that make them amazing.
Take Johnny Depp, a global superstar, woman want him and men want to be like him, who received a letter from a girl in a school asking him to pop along for their pirate themed day.
It would be easy for him to dismiss this and carry on with his superstar lifestyle yet Johnny decided to do something different.
Not only did he appear for the pirate theme day he even turned out in costume and character of Capt Jack Sparrow.
This will be a day the kids in that school remember forever and they also learned a special thing that day. That nothing is impossible, If you ask you may just get. It doesn’t guarantee it will happen but asking makes it more likely.
Well done to Johnny Depp for doing this and well done to the kids for even asking.
BBC News – Your country needs you, says David Cameron.
One thing that the news has been full of recently is cuts cuts cuts. Every paper, every radio story every TV news channel has been focusing on cuts and how painful it is going to be. Whilst we know the countries (and worlds) finances are not great at the moment, I winder whether we are missing a trick here and making it even worse than it already is.
Consider your own thoughts the next time there is a story about the bad financial situation we are in. Notice the thoughts you have and the images that it creates. You may notice that you think defensively and cautiously and may not want to spend as much (if any) money.
The constant focus on how BAD it5 is means we subconsciously only look for the bad. We notice how bad it is and then we FEEL even worse.
I agree with the cuts (even if I thnk they need to consider HOW they do it as what they have said at the moment just seems unworkable) BUT I think they’re missing a trick.
WEALTH
So if the focus shouldn’t be on cuts and cuts alone, what should we be hearing?
The article mentions about people puling together and how people should be looking to start their own businesses. I want to hear more talk from government about WEALTH CREATION. There is only so much you can cut before there is nothing left. So the focus needs tobe on WEALTH and how it can be achieved by big industries through to small businesses.
Along with a group of Mums who run their own businesses [http://www.networkingmummies.com/] I recently met with Bob Walters MP for North Dorset to discuss this very issue. Businesses need support and removal of red tape to to thrive especially smaller businesses who need to focus on supplying their products and services as much as possible instead of doing PAPER WORK 😦
So let’s start thinking about solutions. Yes one is CUTS, we get that we’ve heard it and we know they’re coming…. BUT can we now think about WEALTH CREATION….
What a difference that image creates.
California girth: Katy Perry’s skin-tight silver dress clings in all the wrong places | Mail Online.
Completely irresponsible reporting. I like reading the DailyMail Newspaper but only because it seems to report inciting opinions rather than the news! I like a balanced view of the world and this news paper is ANTI DARREN 🙂
This news article about Katy Perry where she is ‘reported’ to be a ‘little curvier’ (sic).
What an absolute load of rubbish. Teenage girls (and boys) already have enough challenges about their body and image without being told Katy Perry has a bulging stomach. Luckily I would imagine most teenage girls wouldn’t read the Daily Mail so hopefully this article will soon be fish and chip wrapper.
The Daily Mail also reported (on the same day) about the photoshopping of Madonna’s pictures (see here http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1316997/Madonna-queen-airbrush-Before-shots-leaked-showing-star-veiny-arms.html)
So they understand the challenge of body image but just need to be a bit more responsible.
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