Seeing Double: Inspired Dressing

In honor of Monday's blog post, "It's a Wonder-full Life," I dug deep into the archives to create this week's Inspired Dressing post... Wonder Woman!  My mom made this costume for me for Halloween when I was 4.  Isn't it great? 

Linda Carter as Wonder Woman

Yours Truly as Wonder Woman

Have a Great Day!

It's a Wonder-full life.

Last week, I told you about the book Attitudes of Gratitude (if you haven't read the blog post yet, click here to read it now).  It's not a long book and it's one that you will want to read over and over so if you haven't picked it up or ordered yourself a copy yet, make sure you do!  I'm actually only on the 4th "lesson" as I'm following the author's advice: 

This is not a book to be read at one sitting.  Rather, I encourage you to read one chapter and let it sink in for a while- a day, two days, even a week of longer- before moving onto the next.  Since gratitude is both an attitude and a practice, you need time to integrate the learnings so they can become truly yours, and not something you just read, put away, and forget.

The 4th lesson is about how Gratitude Makes Us Young.  M.J. Ryan describes how children look at the world with curiosity and how everything is new, exciting and full of wonder.  This reminded me of a little girl I saw on the street with her Mom last week.  She looked up at her Mom and said "Let's run" and then took off laughing and running down the sidewalk.  (I swear I'm not making this up for the sake of this blog post. It really happened.  Here's proof... I snapped this photo when I caught up to them at the corner while they were waiting to cross the street).

Anyway, as soon as the light turned and they crossed the street, the little girl said the same thing again, "Let's run," and she laughed and ran down the sidewalk.  It made me think about how something as simple as running is fun and exciting when you're little and that somehow, as we get older, running becomes something we have to do in gym class, a distance we have to run in a certain amount of time, something we do for exercise, for health and for weight management.  We certainly don't run for fun anymore, well most of us anyway. 

I realize that as we get older we become skeptical, we think that there has to be a reason or a purpose for everything.  If it doesn't have purpose, it's a waste of time.  Well, it's time to stop looking at the world through shattered lenses and to put the rose-colored glasses of youth back on.  It's time to notice again, that the world is a place full of wonder.

I'm going to put this philosophy into practice this week.  I'm going to be more observant of my surroundings and am going to make an effort to see the wonder and beauty around me, even if I'm in a rush or having a bad day... especially when I'm in a rush or having a bad day. 

This week, I'm going to post a picture each day on the Fresh Equation facebook page of something wonder-full that I encounter.  I'm also going to open the Fresh Equation facebook page for 1 week so that you can share your pictures of the wonder-full things that you notice, discover, appreciate and are grateful for this week.  So pop over to the Fresh Equation facebook page now and share a picture of something wonder-full you came across this weekend or a comment of what you are grateful for. And what better day to start being more grateful and appreciative than today?

Happy Memorial Day

Have a great day!

Seeing Double: Inspired Dressing

Last week's post got such a great response (thank you!) that I'm going to  include this "original way/my way" concept as a regular feature on Fresh Equation.  I hope this new Seeing Double: Inspired Dressing feature inspires you to shop your own closet and to wear what you already own!

http://www.fashionhippieloves.com/

Yours Truly Photo Credit: Bryn Sanders

Have a great day!

One of my favorite things to do is...

One of my favorite things to do when I have free time is to go to Barnes and Noble to flip through books and magazines that look interesting.  That's how I came across Attitudes of Gratitude.  The book technically consists of 5 chapters but it's really a compilation of 60 short anecdotes about how to incorporate gratitude into your everyday thoughts.

These are some of my favorites quotes from the book so far:

Gratitude creates happiness because it makes us feel full, complete; gratitude is the realization that we have everything we need, at least in this moment.

All of us are free to change our minds, and as we change our minds, our experiences will also change.

One of the incredible truths about gratitude is that it is impossible to feel both the positive emotion of thankfulness and a negative emotion such as anger or fear at the same time.

Gratitude helps us track success, to notice what is right in our lives... instead of what is wrong.

And those are only from the first chapter!

We can't always control what happens in our lives but we can control how we think about and react to each situation.  For those of you that read my blog post from last week, you know that How you do one thing is how you do everything (for those of you that didn't, click here to read it now).  Doesn't it then make sense then that How you think about one thing is how you think about everything?  Thinking of all of the things that you have to be grateful for can change your entire mindset.

If you don't believe me, there's even scientific evidence* to back it up.  After counting their blessings for one week...

• 92% of people felt happier and 94% of people who said they were depressed felt less depressed.
• 90% of people found that expressing gratitude made them more joyful
• 84% said it reduced stress and depression, and helped create optimism
• 78% said it gave them more energy
• Research also shows that being grateful means you'll take better care of yourself.
• Folks who kept a weekly gratitude journal had fewer physical problems and exercised more regularly, ate better and got regular checkups

That's pretty incredible!  So what are you waiting for?  Start thinking about one thing that you're grateful for right now and watch how your perspective on everything changes... because How you think about one thing is how you think about everything. 

Have a great day!

*As quoted on Attitudes of Gratitude pgs 14-15

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xoxo

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