Our perception of what a day will be like varies. Sometimes, we feel like we “woke up on the wrong side of the bed,” as the saying goes, and that everything will go wrong because the first thing we did turned out to be a disaster. Other times, we feel as if life is smiling at us; that impression might simply come from having slept well, or because our favorite team won against a great rival the night before.
Keeping our feelings under control is always a good idea; what if we work to give a positive spin to our day regardless of whether we are feeling exuberant or life seems like an uphill battle?
Improve your environment
If you do not know where to start, or if you think that in order for life to be better you need to do something big like attending an international congress, consider this more realistic approach; you can reach your goal quicker by putting into practice this list of ten simple tips, which anyone can do. By applying them, we will make our surroundings more conducive to positivity.
This way, we will not only feel good, but we will have contributed to improving society. The benefits will be palpable.
1. Get up as soon as the alarm goes off
Make beating laziness your very first fight of the morning, and you will have a whole day to feel as much pride as one of those New Zealand players singing their Maori warrior song.
2. Make your bed
Yes, the bed. In other words, air out and straighten your sheets, tuck in the four corners and the blanket, place the duvet or bedspread … A friend of mine who suffered from depression was told for months by her therapist, “If you make your bed well every day, that will be enough.” For some people, that constitutes a major battle, so when they make their bed, their self-esteem is strengthened.
3. Leave the bathroom tidy and ready for the next person
Make sure it is left clean after you are done. See to it that today no one in the family has to go through like a street sweeping truck after you are done. Make it a point to place the bathroom towels as neatly as you would if a guest were coming over.
4. Ask yourself whom you might have neglected lately
Send that person a greeting by text message. This will break the chain or pattern of neglect. You can find another day as that “perfect moment” to talk at length.
5. Thank the “anonymous” people you encounter
The person who waits for you to get into the elevator, the person who gives you an advertising brochure on the street, the bus driver, the bagger at the grocery store …
6. Organize your purse or backpack
Throw away whatever is no longer useful, and leave at home whatever is useful but which has become dizzy from so much unnecessary travel.
7. Call whomever you love most
You do not need any reason to call someone and tell them you love them. Do not wait for the day when you would like to do it but no longer can.
8. Wash your coffee mug
Do not accumulate things in the sink, nor leave them for someone else to clean when they come to wash the dishes at lunchtime or dinner.
9. Carry a small donation in your coat pocket
Give it to the first poor person you find, and give with it a look of love. It may be the only gift he receives all day.
10. Pray
At the end of the day, ask yourself whom you should thank for all the good things that happened to you during the day. Dedicate to Him a few words, a few written lines, a smile, a wink, or a heartfelt thought and prayer.
This article was originally published in the Spanish edition of Aleteia and has been translated and adapted for English-speaking readers by Martha Fernández-Sardina.
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