Author: thenewsuperyou

I believe continuous learning and self-improvement can make life better and more energetic. I like to share what I've learned with others.

Benefits of Practicing Gratitude

My life got really unbearable. I couldn’t even leave the house without giving myself a pep talk every morning. My drinking was out of control and I was unbelievably depressed, sometimes for weeks at a time. I kept all this to myself. The person I conveyed to the world was not who I was on the inside. I was stuck in this vicious cycle of self-pity, self-defeating thoughts, and self-loathing behavior. I didn’t see the point in going on and wanted to die. And I wanted to be buried upside down so the whole world could kiss my ass.

I needed to shift my focus away from my own head. Being stuck in my own head is a very dangerous place for me to be. I needed a new way of thinking, an attitude adjustment…

I started practicing gratitude every morning. It’s the first thing I do (after making coffee, of course..). I write a list of a minimum of six things I’m grateful for.

Sometimes they’re the little things like coffee, or the sunrise.

Sometimes they’re things I take for granted at times like indoor plumbing, power, and reliable vehicles.

Sometimes they’re the most important things in my life like my wonderful husband who has stuck with me through thick and thin, or other people whom I love very much.

Starting out my day by writing down what I’m grateful for has made my life so much better, and it works almost instantly, almost every time. Because when you’re focused on things you’re grateful for, you can’t have feelings of resentment.

Also, when I’m making my list of intentions for the day, I leave out the “but”. Like, I don’t say, “I love so and so but…”

Including a “but” implies I don’t actually love so and so, which I do. So I just leave it out.

My disposition and my life improved immensely once I started practicing gratitude.

For more information on the subject check out Sonja Lyubomirsky’s “How to Practice Gratitude”.

You can do it. A little appreciation goes a long way. If you improve your life just a little bit each day, you will be amazed at the compounding effect of improvement, and at what comes back to you!

Invest in yourself, and be persistent!

~Thanks for reading – LC

Persistence

selective focus photography of turtle on bench
Photo by Arun Thomas on Pexels.com

I learned a little about this value back in August…

On my last camping trip there was a thunderstorm with a torrential downpour. Later, after the sun came back out, I went to restart my campfire. I had some wood gathered that I had sheltered under a rock with an overhang, but it still got wet.

I had some charcoal and lighter fluid, but not that much so I used it sparingly. It took a long time to get that fire started. I lined up damp pieces of wood so they would dry out faster around the edge of the fire pit.

I kept rearranging the wood, putting the driest pieces next to the puny flame I had, and I kept blowing on it.. I knew if I could get a nice hot bed of coals as a base I’d be home free!

I tended and nurtured that fire for over an hour before it finally took. Walking around it, blowing on it, putting newly dried wood in, and replacing the edge with wet wood to dry. I was determined to get that fire going, and because I persisted, and didn’t give up, I was rewarded not only with a nice toasty fire, but also the satisfaction that I had accomplished what I had set out to do.

Just like with life, sometimes you have to help it along, and poke it a little, and rearrange a couple of things here and there. Life is an ongoing, ever changing entity. If you stop helping it along the way or fail to make constant improvements, it burns out. But if you keep on keeping on, you can be rewarded with a rich and full life.

Weak desires bring weak results. One of the main instigators of failure is lack of persistence.

Be persistent, don’t give up!

~Thanks for reading – LC

Back to Nature

Getting back to nature always makes me appreciate what I have. All of life’s little annoyances really seem trivial when I don’t have easy access to things like running water, heat, a stove, refrigeration, etc..

When I have to hike a quarter mile up and down a steep trail full of rocks, roots, and switchbacks between my car and creek side campsite I really appreciate and value the conveniences of city life.

I’m camping in Hot Springs, NC right now.

I’m definitely getting in some good exercise hiking through the woods for four days. A lot of leg work.. literally. My arms also got a good workout because I had to carry all my gear down by hand. I probably made seven trips in all!

But the view was totally worth it! I know a lot of people go to the beach for vacation, but I associate the beach with being lazy. I associate the mountains with action and adventure! Not that there’s anything wrong with being lazy once in a while, I just try not to make a habit out of it. When I’m doing well with my work-out regimen and overall life routine, I want to keep it up! I want to hike and bike in places I’ve never been rather than sit out in the sun all day. Don’t get me wrong, I like the beach too, it just seems to me there’s not as much to do and it’s more expensive.

Walking in the forest, especially in the mountains, gives me an uneven terrain to cope with, which helps improve coordination, as well as hills and obstacles. I can feel this constant change in terrain working different muscle groups and it’s breaking me out of my same-old-same-old routine.

Here’s some more good reasons to “take a hike”

Yoga and meditation by the creek has been a phenomenal experience. I love the quiet and solitude. It helps me focus on my breathing. The only sounds are the chirping of birds and the water flow of the creek. I feel the stress just flow out of me into the earth below and sink down and away.

I learned a lot on this trip about:

Life will not wait for me. It also won’t stop when I’m gone. It was good for me to realize just how small a part of the universe I am, but at the same time I am important to the grand scheme of things.

I highly recommend getting out of the same old boring routine of a gym. Try going camping in a remote area for 4 days, or make a day trip of hiking at a park near you. It might just give you the perspective you need to kick start a new routine.

Personal and emotional fitness, and striving for goals are like a campfire. You have to help it along and poke it sometimes to keep it going. Be persistent.

~Thanks for reading – LC