On

<a href=”http://www.positivelypositive.com/”>http://www.positivelypositive.com/</a&gt; The Positively Positive Blog

Which I read often and receive their e-mail updates, I came across this wonderful idea introduced to the blog by

<a href=”http://www.positivelypositive.com/2012/10/01/the-list-october-2012/

”>Eric Handler in his “The List” post</a>

  The idea is that every month he will make a list of any interesting, inspirational, helpful material he has come across that month. This can include movies, books, ideas, anything.

I decided to try something similar every now and then! Please give credit for this incredible idea to Eric Handler, of the Positively Positive blog!

In the last week some inspirational ideas or things I have come across or thought of are:

1.) This quote by Johnny Cash:

“I’m thankful for a pair of shoes that feel really good on my feet; I like my shoes.

I’m thankful for the birds; I feel like they’re singing just for me when I get up in the morning… Saying, ‘Good morning, John. You made it, John.’

I’m thankful for the sea breeze that feels so good right now, and the scent of jasmine when the sun starts going down.

I’m thankful…”

~Johnny Cash

I love this quote. It is so sweet and loving. Just to acknowledge and appreciate and give thanks for the simple wonders and pleasures around us is a great and extremely effective for bettering our lives and the lives of all around us. Even seemingly ordinary things that almost everyone we know has access to or possesses like a pair of shoes are something to feel immense gratitude for.

Without shoes, we wouldn’t be the same.  

2.) Positive Focus: This is something I frequently think about. While it is important to acknowledge what is wrong in the world and around our lives and to take care of that when we can, it is equally important (to feel happier and healthier) to frequently acknowledge what is right with us and the world. We can make mental gratitude lists but it is much more effective to write it down somewhere on paper or on a computer/phone or other technology. I will post another entry soon on the topic of positive journaling. When positive focus becomes intentional and turns into an ingrained habit, we will be much happier and appreciative of life in general.

3.) Craft ideas/Fun Activities: Even if you aren’t very talented at any kind of creative activities, you can still have so much fun creating! Coloring, drawing, painting, writing, gluing, all kinds of stuff like that. This can take your mind off of negative events and thoughts for a while and you can even build on your creative skills!

A.C. Moore has lots of cool craft stuff or just get construction paper and markers!

4.) This quote I also saw in the last week: “All love stories are beautiful but ours is my favorite.” <3. This is a beautiful quote because it is about love and conveys great confidence and appreciation for what the person has but also acknowledges the beauty in what someone else has. There’s no envy here. No negativity. No putting others down or being arrogant. Just love and satisfaction. We should all strive to love and accept what we have while being happy and appreciating the happiness of others as well. 

5.) Take the opportunity to understand someone else’s situation/pain and see the beauty underneath: I was recently thinking about counseling centers and mental health centers and how some of them have workers/counselors who seriously mistreat people who struggle with substance addiction or abuse. They treat them as if they are not as worthy of compassion and empathy as other patients and not only counselors do this but often many “ordinary” people do. Friends, family members, strangers…. Often treat people struggling with addiction as if they are horrible people that there is no hope for. For many people, all they see is the monster that the addiction created. But underneath the tragic addiction is a beautiful person with much potential. This doesn’t just go for people struggling with addiction but anyone who may be difficult to have to associate with for whatever reason that may be.

If we extend warmth and compassion and empathy there’s a chance we will touch someone’s life for the better. When a person hurts us in any way it’s often so easy to get angry and devastated and want to hurt the person back. That makes sense and is a normal reaction. I think most everyone has done this. But I got to thinking how it would benefit us all to try to just understand even just a little bit, someone else’s situation or point of view.  

6.) Just a random idea: If you’re stuck and feeling uninspired in any situation or if you are depressed and feeling apathetic and want to do nothing, do something anyway. Whatever you usually love to do. If you are some kind of writer, even just someone who writes in personal journals for yourself or creative writing, and you have no idea what to write, just put the pen to paper and see where it goes. If you don’t even try, you’ll never see what happens. And if you’re depressed and indifferent to everything, just go about your usual day. Force yourself out of bed and get your body moving. If you usually like makeup, put it on. I find that this helps me so much more than staying in bed and being blahhhh all day. It inspires me, even if not much, to just keep going and laying around all day being depressed just adds to the depression. Nothing wrong with laying around though and being lazy every now and then just because but don’t let your depression stop you! 

I hope you find these helpful and inspirational! And I plan to post more like this often!

And I hope you all have a beautiful day. ❤

XoxoKim 

P.s. If this post is completely weird looking it’s likely because I made an attempt to use some html stuff to make the links clickable. I used to have some good basic knowledge of html stuff when I was young but through the years, it all escaped me! ;-). So I may have messed it up a bit!

Also, the two adorable cuties in the picture are my dad’s parakeets, Elvis & Lennon! ❤