Good Morning: 365 Positive Ways to Start Your Day (Find More Joy, Happiness, and Inspiration with Positive Thinking) - Softcover

April 18

"The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself."
―Benjamin Franklin

Good morning! Today we are going to start our morning with a simple role-play, a technique I like to use once in a while. Let's say that tonight for dinner you want to have homemade soup. You have a craving. Your family has a craving. Everyone wants soup. Unfortunately, you don't have a single ingredient needed to make the soup. What would you do? I will make a guess that you will go get the ingredients. Obviously, if you don't go get them, you'll never fulfi ll that homemade-soup craving.

Happiness is a craving we all have. But we can't sit and wait for it to come our way, just as the ingredients for a recipe won't magically appear. We have to make a conscious effort to go out and "catch happiness."

Many times throughout our day we are faced with something we want and we fulfi ll that want. We are thirsty―we go get something to drink. We are hungry―we go get something to eat. We want to write something down―we go get a pen. Happiness need not be any more complicated―if we want happiness, we must either go get it or create it where we are.

Your Turn:
Challenge yourself to create or catch happiness today.

Today's Affirmation:
I create happiness in my life.

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August 9

"A man becomes what he thinks about all day long."
―Ralph Waldo Emerson

Good morning! This quote goes nicely with the challenge of yesterday's Good Morning and the quote we featured from UCLA basketball coach John Wooden. This Emerson quote offers a quick and easy way to "step into the moment" and double check our thinking. Read this quote at the end of your day. At midnight, instead of turning into a pumpkin like the Cinderella story, what would you turn into based on your thoughts?

Ask yourself that question each day for the next month as part of your nightly refl ection. Write down your answers. This will quickly give you an "insider look" at where your life is headed. You certainly don't need a crystal ball, all you need is to evaluate and observe your thoughts.

Your Turn:
Challenge yourself to write a different, positive ending to each day of your life.

Today's Affirmation:
My thoughts represent where I want to go in life and how I want to feel... and where I want to be and how I want to feel today.