Positive Thinking

The other night, I was driving home from work with a million thoughts flying through my head.  After taking a few deep breaths, I decided to stop all these thoughts and pray.  In doing so, these thoughts became fewer and those that remained were more positive.  That night I decided to go to the gym for a run as running has become an amazing way for me to release any stress I may be feeling and helps me feel healthy.  When I was driving home, now from the gym, I was listening to The Message on Sirius Satellite Radio and a little clip came on about becoming a person who is more positive.  A person who sees the glass as half-full, rather than half-empty.  I listened and and soon as I got home I jotted a couple of notes down so that I could reflect on this.  They spoke of how people who are positive add years to their life and that to become more positive you should include the following three ideals into each day:
1. Take time for yourself.
I had read a book years ago by Cheryl Richardson entitled, "Take Time for Your Life."  In the book, Richardson talks about seven steps that will help create the life you want.  These include:
-Put yourself at the top of the list (self-care)
-Get your priorities straight (time and attention to what is really important)
-What's draining you? (identify and eliminate what drains you)
-Invest in your financial health (basic money management - pretty self-explanatory)
-What's fueling you? (healthy forms of energy - from spending time to friends to exercise)
-Build a "soulful" community (surround yourself with a community of high-quality relationships that will support, challenge, and encourage you)
Interestingly enough, this was also the basis for the sermon on Saturday night and really spoke volumes to me.  Pastor Ian spoke of the importance of community to be there through the difficult times and the times of celebration.  He talked about the importance of connecting and not doing life on your own. 
-Honor your spiritual well-being (nurturing your spiritual well-being through developing your relationship with God - being one she speaks of in this chapter, as I don't believe she is a Christian author)
Now might be a good time for me to re-read parts of this book to ensure that I am on track in these different areas.
2. Count your blessings.
Gratitude and being grateful for the many blessings is key to living a positive life.  I feel strongly about this one, evidenced through the title of my blog, "A Life Full of Gratitude - A Heart Full of Gratitude."  Since an early age I believe I have always shown that I have a grateful heart in how I have lived my life but I do realize that we need to constantly count our blessings and see all that He has blessed us with, as we give thanks to Him.  I saw a quote recently that stated something to the affect of, "What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?"  It kind of puts it into perspective, doesn't it?
What are you grateful for?  What are the blessings in your life?  Have you stopped to praise God for those blessings?
3. Take initiative to challenge yourself and push yourself harder.
Terry found my list and laughed at it as he said, "Yeah, I really think you need to be challenge yourself by pushing yourself harder."  It is true, I likely don't in some areas of my life but feel that in other areas I certainly do.  For instance, in my job, I think I pour myself in and the time it takes, takes time away from other things in my life that I would like to be more focused on.  When work consumes all this time, I feel that my work/life balance is not at all balanced and that is definitely something to change.
I have been exercising more regularly but I feel that I have been doing it as a means to reduce stress and continue to keep in better shape.  However, I do not feel that I have set goals in this area so that I can challenge myself and then see an end result.  Goal setting is so important so that once you have reached a goal you can reflect back and see that you have achieved something.  So, I would like to set goals in fitness that are challenging and push me and help me see results that I can celebrate.  I will post those when I have chosen them so that each of you who read my blog can hold me accountable.  And who knows, maybe some of you would even like to join me in my quest for a more fit life by setting some similar goals!
Anyway, I found this little clip on the radio quite timely and since it helped me to reflect to take action in my life, I thought I would bless you with it as well.  I would love to hear your feedback...

"Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."  ~Lamentations 3:22–23 (NIV)