The magic number 3

I have a very wise friend, Julia, who has lots of lovely nuggets of advice. Recently, she told me about the power of three little things and I wanted to share them with you.

Putting my spin on it, I thought it might be handy to give you an idea of the opposite of these to make the point.

1.      Negative thought: “Everything is going wrong; the world is against me.”
2.      Negative action: “I’m going to fester in a pit of self-despair that helps me feel even worse.”
3.      Negative interaction: “I’m going to go on social media and compare my awful life to everyone else’s perfect lives.”

No doubt you can see how destructive this can be, despite how alluring a bit of sulking can feel in that moment. It takes a bit of strength to haul yourself out of the negative funk and back towards the positive. How can you turn things around to the positive? When you are feeling out of sorts, try thinking about these three things:

1.      Positive thought: “Today might feel uncomfortable, and tomorrow will be different. It’s not always this bad. I know things will feel better soon.”
2.      Positive action: “I know that getting out for a short walk has helped in the past, so I will try that right now.”
3.      Positive interaction: “I will phone one of my friends for a short chat, or I will smile at the next person I see.”

Just a few small, positive steps start the ball rolling to long-term, sustainable positive change. That, and a good night's sleep... but I'm in danger of repeating myself so will stop there!