Source: Action for Happiness website

In a recent issue of Red Magazine, I read about the Action for Happiness website, which aims to “build a happier society”. I’ve only just started looking into the many actions on the website but a few caught my eye, including Find three good things each day and Use positive parenting techniques.

The three good things action appeals to me a lot at the moment, mainly because I know that I have a tendency to moan about things and only to see the negative. (I used to think it was just that I was cynical, but now I realise that it has developed into whininess, which is not a good look.) I’ve become more interested in trying to fix this: I’ve started reading a book on mindfulness and am becoming increasingly interested in coaching and ways to improve my happiness. I definitely would not say that I am unhappy (but who would not want to be happier!) but I realise that I need to find better ways to cope with the stress that everyday life throws at me. Really, fuming and raging about every little thing that goes wrong is not helping.

And now that Little O is a toddler, we are starting to see that trying to diffuse any potential tantrums before they happen is a great tactic. Sometime he does get frustrated or upset or tearful, but if we can find ways to steer him away from unnecessary upset, that can only be a good thing, right?

Three good things

The Action for Happiness website suggests starting by writing down three good things that have happened during the day each night before you go to sleep and then write down why it happened and how it makes you feel. If you do that for a week, the idea is that you start to look at things in a much more positive light.

So, I am going to take action as of today and post my “three good things” each day for the next couple of week. At the end of those weeks, I will aim to link up with a weekly “Reasons to be cheerful” post for the blog hop over at Mummy From The Heart.

So, Monday’s three good things:

• Little O had a successful first day back at preschool today. His best friend was there when he arrived and the two of them, who had not seen each other for three weeks, gave each other a big hug and then ran immediately off to play. It made me feel happy that he settled back down into “preschool life” so easily after three weeks away. I guess it happened because he is, on the whole, a happy little boy who enjoys playing with other children.
• Baby E and I had a fun day at a nursery rhymes sing-a-long session. I thought he might have been a bit young but he seemed to enjoy bouncing on my lap in time to the songs and helping me clap along. I was glad that I had made the effort to attend this event not only because it gave me a chance to do with Baby E something that I did with Little O when he was this age, but also because 13 people had signed up for it but only five (myself included) actually went. 
• I had a great session today with my personal trainer * – it was the toughest I’ve done for a while and was just what I needed. It felt great that we had done the conditioning training today because, much as I dislike it, I know that is what I really need to do and what is good for me. 
  

There we go: three good things about today.

* Yep, I am that bad that I need someone standing over me and shouting encouraging me to get me training…