Today I want to share some science and ideas to help you flip from where you are right now to imagining and expecting much better!

Yep, its a power of happiness day on the blog, and for good reason.

Yesterday I had a magic day, even though it started out bleak and vacant.

The dramatic turn of what sort of sucked into what was perhaps the best weekend I’ve had in a calendar year all started with a turn toward feeling – and thinking- incredibly!

(the colors & crazy awesome design alone at the Home + Housewares show were bliss)

It started out slow yesterday, groggy from Daylight Savings Time switches, freezing cold in Chicago, late to get to the Home + Housewares show… dragging luggage… missed the shuttle… I wanted to go home and sleep away a headache I never get, I was rushed to checkout of the hotel room, I couldn’t eat breakfast… I looked forward to nothing really… It was just “off.”

Not my thing.

Have you been there?

I was sort of despondent for a short while. It was strange because the day before was so incredibly positive. And the day before that… But you know, when you down spiral, it just sort of happens.

I went outside loaded down with wheeling bags and looked up at the skyscrapers of Michican Avenue.  I’ts so gorgeous on the streets of downtown Chicago.  Like a wave I remembered being 15 and sitting in my hyper-yellow New Jersey bedroom reading about Chicago in a teen magazine interview with Cindy Crawford.  I realized I imagined this trip a long ways ago… and it all sort of fell in place to come now for a reason, since I had no reason before this….

“I’m so lucky to be here right now” was all I could feel.  It seemed that the best thing I could do was immerse myself in the day.

A couple walked up and asked if they could take me to the show.  They gave me a city tour on the way.  I convinced Jamba Juice to make me a more “authentic” kale shake and plugged in the computer to write in the giant conference hall lounges.   Ideas where everywhere.  Messages of love came through my phone.  I decided to do one more pass of the Home Show to find extra gems and instead I ran straight into an angel who got me an exceptional tea, brought me through the huge hits of the show, stored my luggage, shared insanely brilliant wisdom and introduced me to incredible people. All flowing.  By the time I got to the airport shuttle, I was up for anything.  And in walked a group of powerhouse people.  One woman had dinner with me at the airport that turned into a synergistic event, a night out of expanding and learning and connecting all in the space of hours before the plane boarded.

Ahhhh it was so great!

You can flip any day.

You can switch any life pattern.

You can free yourself from the “deep wounds” of the past.

You can inagine anything you want, and chances are you can imagine much better and happier and more synergistic for yourself.

Stay Present.

The case for “mindfulness” practices that keep you grounded, centered and out of the automatic subconscious mind is growing in scientific depth and heft.

THIS article in Science Of Spirit breaks down one case study that is full of lightbulb moments that emphasize why you should think and imagine better for yourself: ‘

” A new study by researchers in Wisconsin, Spain, and France reports the first evidence of specific molecular changes in the body following a period of intensive mindfulness practice.

The study investigated the effects of a day of intensive mindfulness practice in a group of experienced meditators, compared to a group of untrained control subjects who engaged in quiet non-meditative activities. After eight hours of mindfulness practice, the meditators showed a range of genetic and molecular differences, including altered levels of gene-regulating machinery and reduced levels of pro-inflammatory genes, which in turn correlated with faster physical recovery from a stressful situation.

“To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper that shows rapid alterations in gene expression within subjects associated with mindfulness meditation practice,” says study author Richard J. Davidson, founder of the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds and the William James and Vilas Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.”

A few minutes of quiet breathing in your meditation area at home (don’t have one? make one! these tips can help!!!) every morning and night – and any time you are getting negative- can make all the difference!

Recognize all the greatness around you. 

Martin Seligman, the very celebrated founder of Positive Psychology (*imagine a shrink who focused on what was right in your life?!) created many exercises to help people achieve happiness quite simply.  Maria Popova shared one of my favorites in her incredible blog, Brain Pickings:

“Every night for the next week, set aside ten minutes before you go to sleep. Write down three things that went well today and why they went well. You may use a journal or your computer to write about the events, but it is important that you have a physical record of what you wrote. The three things need not be earthshaking in importance (“My husband picked up my favorite ice cream for dessert on the way home from work today”), but they can be important (“My sister just gave birth to a healthy baby boy”).

Next to each positive event, answer the question “Why did this happen?” For example, if you wrote that your husband picked up ice cream, write “because my husband is really thoughtful sometimes” or “because I remembered to call him from work and remind him to stop by the grocery store.” Or if you wrote, “My sister just gave birth to a healthy baby boy,” you might pick as the cause … “She did everything right during her pregnancy.”

Writing about why the positive events in your life happened may seem awkward at first, but please stick with it for one week. It will get easier.”

If you want to get radically more positive and find that the woo-woo is not for you, this world-renowned psychologist will change your mind! 

Do all things with love.  

Two night ago I was struggling for the words to describe what I’ve been experiencing with so much joy and so many practical challenges facing me all at once.  Its like the world cracked open a few years ago and every day things speed faster in greatness.  My friend said it best, ” It’s doing all things with love.”

You can imagine and bring into your life all kinds of adventures that are not borne of love.  We all get tempted by things that aren’t cool, to state it simply.  It’s like wanting to date the “bad boy” in High School to look cool, or to beat someone out for a job just to win even though the job isn’t that great in the long-run.

Do you really have the intentions of love- of greatest good- and of a real desire to care for what you are wishing for… or just a want to “get” it? 

If you do all things with far more love and less “idle want”, it’s addictively fun to watch life unfold. And…it’s easier to imagine more of great things everywhere.  The space around you buzzes with excitement.  You can’t really ever be “rejected” or “fail” in a soul-crushing way because, well, if you really love things you love them no matter what, and you know there’s more to love beyond what is in front of you now. It’s not about posessing things… its about truly bringing your best to them… and getting so much joy back in the process…

Basically, all of this is to say that if you can create anything you want (and you can), why not imagine and live the best things?!

xoxo Dana

PS: AMAZING design is coming to the blog… and you’ll be some of the first to see it!!!

 

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