Day 1

"Wag More. Bark Less". This was my phrase for today. It is a definitely positive saying, but it really reminds me of my dog Jackson. When he gets excited he wags his entire body and you can't help but smile when you see it. 

Being positive is hard. Or more so, not being negative is hard. You get so quickly caught up in talking about things and harping over things. And before I know it, I am being negative and I feel the negativity taking over. 

Today I was talking about work. I was harping about the environment at work with a coworker. I then realized my negativity and at my soonest out, I stopped talking about it. So was I negative, yes, but I did try to find the silver lining and then I realized what I was doing and stopped. 

So far the coolest thing that I am learning is that people are very supportive of the "quest for positivity". Everyone I tell has in some way tried to help me to find something positive right in that moment. They change their attitudes and become more positive. 

Maybe everyone is searching for a little more positivity in their lives.  

Oh, and I did hold the door open for a girl today and it turns out being nice to others is a fairly positive experience. She was just so surprised that I went out of my way to open the door. Pretty cool. 

High of the Day: Listening to my friend's podcast. He is really passionate about having a podcast. It is inspiring. 

Low of the day: Getting caught up in drama caused by people that I see everyday but aren't worth my time. 

Off to the ArtWalk! 

The Idea

Put simply, I am going to be positive for 32 days. 

Put a little less simply, I have decided that I need to stop being so negative.

I work with college students who are on Academic Probation. One of their assignments is to make a 32 day commitment. I, too was instructed to make a 32 day commitment, so I could connect with my students. So the struggle has been trying to figure out what that commitment is going to be. I made one; Go to Class everyday. So far so good. But, I really want to challenge myself to embrace the true meaning of this commitment.

So why positivity? Well I have been surrounded by a lot of negativity lately. From stress at school, stress at work, and I have just had such a negative outlook with it all. I get angry at something every day. And I finally realized that I need to calm down. I need to stop soaking up all of this negativity and just move on.

Here are the Rules:

1. When I wake up, tell myself something that I am happy about. Write it down on a post-it note.

2. When in a position where I feel myself becoming negative, pull out the post-it and look at it. Use the word or phrase that I wrote to remind myself about positivity and the good things in my life.

3.   Create music playlist that contains music that makes me happy. If I can dance to it, thats awesome. Listen to this music in between classes and in my free time.

4. Avoid situations that will make me go towards the negative.
    4.1 When situations cannot be avoided, think about the good that will come of the situation.
           4.1.1 If the situation does not result in anything positive, revert back to rule 4.

5. Be kind to people. (Seems like this could be a pretty positive experience)

6. At the end of the day reflect about the High and Low of my day. (This way I can think about negative things once a day, get them out, and move on).

7. Blog about my day.

8. Bark Less. Wag More. (Had to throw it in there.)

9. Do one thing that I love, everyday! (Big or small, doesn't matter!)

10. Go easy on myself.


I plan to start this in 2 days. On Friday, February 3rd, 2012. Starting on a weekend seems like a good idea.

"Fear less, hope more; Eat less, chew more; Whine less, breathe more; Talk less, say more; Love more, and all goo things will be yours."~ Sweedish Proverb

I guess we will see about that!