"I still get wildly enthusiastic about little things... I play with leaves. I skip down the street and run against the wind."
-Leo Buscaglia
-Leo Buscaglia
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Look around the room carefully and list all the items that you’re grateful for.  Every season has its perks. What is your season now in your part of the world? What do you love most about the current season?  “Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.” – Pat Conroy  Where was your last vacation? Describe what you did there. For some, vacation does not involve much travel. For others, vacation means an adventure to foreign lands. Thinking about whatever vacation means to you, even if it is just having time off from work or school, how did you spend that time? What did you enjoy? What did you see? Who was with you? Would you want to experience something like this again? Does it inspire you to try something else? What were your favorite parts? Share something with us from your vacation below.  “When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive, to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.” – Marcus Aurelius  Are you a morning person or a night owl? What do you love most about this part of the day?  1. Take Inventory of what causes joy and what causes regret; focus on joy. 2. Fix the things you regret: either address them or avoid them in the future 3. Revel in gratitude: start and use a Journal of Gratitude to acknowledge all the good in your life. 4. Recognize what you can control: reframe your decisions to learn from them. Control what you can, and forgive yourself for the rest. 5. Ask your "future self" if you will be thankful for today's choices. 6. Redirect your resources of time and money to focus more on joy: Do NOT make excuses of why you are too busy for what brings you joy. 7. Create non-negotiable rituals: maybe taking a walk, drinking coffee you love, or sketching a picture. Incorporate these regularly into your life without regret 8. Embrace new experiences: when something is new, chemicals linked to pleasure and reward are released in the brain. Which of these do you find most challenging? Which are you excited to incorporate into your life?  We all have times when we find ourselves dreading doing something. Once we finally just go ahead and take the first steps, we quickly learn we had built up the task to be much worse in our own minds than it actually ended up being in reality. Too bad we wasted time worrying, procrastinating, and dreading! Describe the last time you procrastinated on a task that wasn’t as difficult as you thought it would be.  “There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.” ― Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol  |
Jennifer Kugler-Gillespie, MA, NCCJennifer is a professional counselor and tutor helping people all around the world. She creates a positive experience for her students to build confidence and enhance learning. Archives
February 2020
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