Complaining and gratitude training

I haven't been very happy with my job or what I am studying and it has affected all parts of my life. Sometimes it is really difficult to come to grips with what I am feeling and the emotions seem to take over, as if I'm not in control. Needless to say, it's been a frustrating year and I have been searching for ways to get through my own personal storm.

I was reading Jessica Mullen's "Introduction to Life Design" out of curiosity this morning. She has managed to make a living through lifecasting and creating a series of methodologies for life design. In short, she blogs and creates podcasts about the positive things in her life, creating the reality of her dreams. Of course I would be curious about reading her blog, I want to jump on that train! I recommend taking a look at the life design toolbox in this post. I really enjoyed reading about simple exercises to improve the way we think and live.

 (source: evasee)

Mullen's blog post also linked to the blog of Tim Ferriss (he wrote the 4-hour workweek book). I was a little unsure about this guy at first (probably because I am jealous of people who are successful at doing what they want to do, to be honest!), but a couple of articles really affected me. One is the 21-day no complaint experiment. Don't complain for 21 days and see how it trains your mind towards more productive and positive thinking. It seems so obvious now! I consider myself a fairly optimistic person, but the more I think about it, I do compain a lot. I am pretty keen to try this experiment out. I really want to make a positive change in my thinking and I think this is a really effective way to do it. The rules are pretty strict but I think if I at least try to monitor my thinking habits it's bound to have a positive result.

(source: tickledbylife)

 The other 'lesson' posted on Ferriss's blog is Gratitude Training. This is an article written for people who find it difficult or ineffective to meditate. I don't think it's difficult, I just find it hard to make time to meditate. There are so many other things I want to do during the too short day. However, gratitude training sounds perfect for me. You wake up in the morning and think about what you are grateful for and write them down. And you just keep adding to this list. I love journals and the act of writing something down with a pen (an activity I don't do very often anymore) inspires me. And, I really think that doing this first thing in the morning will provide me with a nice framework for the rest of the day. I have a gratitude journal  app on my iPhone, but I never remember to use it! I think if I can get in the habit of waking up and writing it will be must easier for me to be consistent.

I want to make myself a journal like this because it makes me laugh:

 (source: nowvember shop on Etsy)

Today I am grateful for being vegan. For all of the people who have put so much effort into creating AMAZING vegan recipes and lists. They have made it so easy to live as a vegan, just look at this accidentally vegan list! I feel so good having made this decision, my actions really align with my feelings and that makes me feel like I do have control over my actions and my life.