The Joy Journal and the Reverse To Do List

Out of all the New Year's resolutions I want to keep this year, there are only two that I really want to accomplish. The first is to keep a "Joy Journal", and the second is a "reverse to do list".

I've always been a cynical person with the tendancy to be negative, and I'm tired of it. I'm not sure if I can discard it completely, but I certainly want to try. So I'm going to attack the negativity at the source...my thoughts. I'm terrible about talking negatively to myself, and that obviously doesn't help when I'm feeling bad.

So in order to combat my negative self-talk through writing and in two distinct ways. First is the joy journal. I'm committing to myself to take a few minutes every day to write down three positive things...one positive thing about me, one positive thing about my husband, and one positive thing about my kids. The bad stuff tends to stick with me a lot more than the good stuff, so this journal is an attempt to focus my thoughts (albeit forcibly on some days) on the good things of that day.

My second writing assignment is what I call the reverse to do list. I'm great about creating to do lists. I tend to be more motivated when I have a task list in writing instead of in my head. The trouble is that I have two small children and a part-time job that eat up a lot of my time, so my to-do list never seems to get done. In fact, it seems to get longer and longer, which is VERY discouraging and overwhelming to me.

So the to do list has become a negative thing for me. The reverse to do list will hopefully be a way to reinforce positive thinking in my life. The day will start out with a blank sheet of paper. Any time I accomplish something outside of the normal care of my children and my job, I plan to write it down. At the end of the day, I can look at that sheet of paper and feel proud about what I was able to accomplish.

Being the cynic that I am, I don't know if these two things will really help. BUT nothing could be lost, so why not give it a shot. I think my only challenge will be keeping these writing assignments short & sweet since time is of the essence. I am looking forward to the POSITIVE changes this may bring to my attitude and my daily life!