Enhancing Our Perspective
We all know that it’s important to manage stress and time well, and to have nurturing personal relationships and meaningful work. These contribute to an optimum quality of life. It’s difficult to make good dietary choices, maintain a proper weight, and get a good night’s sleep when our jobs are stressful, and we have so many daily activities to juggle, and there may be factors involved that we cannot control.
The one thing that you can control is your perspective about everything in your life. Is it easy? No. However, it can be done if you start with small, simple steps. Cultivating a positive attitude has an impact on the chemistry of your body, and when health-promoting hormones, such as endorphin s, are secreted you are happier, more relaxed, and better equipped to deal with the trials that inevitably arise. A negative attitude can have the opposite effect; you retain water and start developing more fat, less oxygen is pumped through the system, and the vicious cycle of ill-health continues.
When you get off track, simply re-focus and pick up where you left off, noting what changes need to be made to keep you on track.
Small, consistent changes can make a huge difference over time in how your body responds and therefore on your general outlook and state of health-and, in turn, the quality of your daily life.
Here are a few suggestions:
- Choose some form of inspirational material to read at the beginning and end of each day.
- Make a list of the significant people in your life. Next to their names, write down the gifts that each one brings you. If you haven’t acknowledged them yet for their contribution, do so this week.
- List the positive qualities of your job and expand on it each day.
- Write down the good things you have yet to experience in your life. Each day add to the list. At the end of the week, choose at least one and plan to do it.
- Make a list of things you enjoy, and add to it daily. Make sure at least one or two are part of every single day.
- As Sarah Ban Breathnach (Simple Abundance) said: “You simply will not be the same person two months from now after consciously giving thanks, each day for the abundance that exists in your life. And you will have set in motion an ancient spiritual law: the more you have and are grateful for, the more will be given to you.”
