Thursday, December 13, 2007

Morning Affirmations

Experienced people sometimes recommend that a great way to adjust your attitude is to start each day with a morning affirmation. The recommended time is the first thing in the morning before you get out of bed, and literally before you open you eyes if possible. I started doing this and it does seem to both improve my attitude and help me keep my priorities straight.

Most of the examples of such morning affirmations tend to be a simple sentence. I started that way, but over the course of a few months I kept adding to it. My current morning affirmation has grown to the following:

I will let compassion, respect, gratitude, and an optimistic view of a better world guide my decisions and actions today.

It's a great way to start out the morning. How can you wake up grumpy after that?

2 comments:

The Eclectic Cleric said...

What an interesting (and useful) idea. In the olden days, they would have called it prayer and it would have gone something like this: "With your help Lord, may compassion, respect, gratitude, and an optimistic view of a better world guide all my thoughts and actions, this day and every day." And, of course, one would have been encouraged to "pray without ceasing."

You and I are about the same age, and so I often find food for thought reading your reflections about reaching "mid-life." Inspired by "Car Talk," I've actually come to think of this as the "third half" of my life. I spent the first 25 years discovering the person I had the potential to become. I spent the next 25 becoming the person I was meant to be. And now I hope to be able to spend the next (and probably last) two and a half decades being the person I was destined to become. God willing, and with the aid of Divine Providence of course....

Mike Ignatowski said...

“I've actually come to think of this as the ‘third half’ of my life.” - I love it!

As I think back, I would say that I spent my first 25 years growing, learning, doing a little exploring, and preparing to become a responsible thoughtful adult. The second 25 years was dominated by the somewhat traditional roles of being a responsible adult, employee, parent, community member, and growing into what I am now. Now is the time in the 3rd half of life, given my acquired experiences and connections, to spend the time being the person I have been working on becoming all these years. I like the way you described this.