One Small Action Can Change Your Entire Day

I can tend toward pessimism. That shocks most people when I say it because I normally have an upbeat attitude and I’m always making jokes. But it’s true – I pretty regularly look at the glass half empty. Thankfully, I have found one small action can change your entire day. What is that one small action? Keep reading. What is our goal with that small action?

Develop Gratitude.

I have to work DAILY at seeing the good side of things. I recently read in the book Switch On Your Brain that we are actually BORN to be positive. However, we let the cares of life and things that happen to us cause us to think negatively and have bad attitudes. We CHOOSE to be negative.

We don’t get to choose what happens to us – other people act in ways we don’t agree with, we’re put in situations we didn’t ask for, and life just happens. But what we DO get to choose is how we react.

Do we choose to react with a good attitude or a negative one?

One thing I’ve had to work super hard at is surrounding myself with folks who have a positive attitude – people who lift up and encourage – who speak truth – who are lovely, good, true, and overflowing with positive thoughts.

This is NOT easy – sometimes we find ourselves with friends or family that have negative attitudes and they aren’t going anywhere. It is really hard to be around people who have a negative attitude. So what’s a person to do? How can you change your days when you don’t get to CHOOSE YOUR DAYS?

Take one small step.

Thanks to my friend Rosie, I made one small change to my day, every day, that you can do too. And I promise it will make a world of difference.

Gratitude changes your entire life. When you are GRATEFUL, there is little room for being pessimistic. When you are GRATEFUL, you thank God for His goodness. It’s harder to be in a bad mood when you have gratitude in you heart.

My friend Barbara gave me this small notebook – and I keep it beside my bed. Each day, in the morning before the kids get up and life gets chaotic, I write down 3 things I am grateful (thankful) for.

Just three? Yup – three. And they can be anything I like.

It doesn’t have to be deep thoughts like: I am thankful for peace in Egypt and for every little bird that flies over Australia. Sometimes mine looks as simple as:

• Hot showers
• Bread
• Warm feet
• Cool mornings
• Earrings
• Coffee

Just keep it simple. Just write down what immediately comes to mind that you are THANKFUL for in that exact moment. Mine often becomes a short prayer: “Thank you Lord for cotton sheets, cloudy mornings, and pink nail polish. Amen.”

TRY IT. I DARE YA!
See how your days start to change. <3