Description: In this episode Dr. Tina Boogren shares a simple yet transformative hack to shift your mindset, boost happiness, and find positivity in everyday moments.
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Transcription: Hi and welcome to episode four of our fifth season of Self Care for Educators. I am your host, Dr. Tina Boogren. I'm so happy you are here. So this week I want to share, um, kind of a little, a little hack that I've been playing with for the last, oh, quite a few weeks now that's been really working for me and so I'm going to offer it up to you in the hopes that maybe it works for you as well.
So you may have seen floating around, there was like this, I think it was a meme originally, and it was just. Uh, someone said, my friends and I decided to start a list on our phone entitled “Good Things Are Always Happening To Me” and we just keep adding to it and it's been a game-changer. It was something as simple as that. And I happened to see that on social media on a day where travel was going awry. So I was like, well, I'm going to do this. So I pulled up my phone and I started a brand new note and I titled that note “Good Things Are Always Happening To Me” and I just started writing things down on this note and I just keep adding to it. It's the same idea, of course, of gratitude, and yet it's a very different lens to look through; that good things are always happening to me. And it's like putting it out into the universe- this positive thing, right?
So I'm just going to read some of the things that I put on my list to give you an idea of how I started utilizing this. So that particular day that I started this, so I started this at the beginning of September, so good things are always happening to me. My husband brings me coffee immediately upon waking up in the morning. My Lyft driver that day was early and he was quiet and he helped me put my bag into the trunk without making a smart aleck comment on how heavy it was- which is what lots of people do.
Good things are happening to me. There was a long TSA line at the airport and yet it went really fast- that was a good thing. It was a good thing that I got to flirt with a baby while I was in line. It was also a good thing I had a very kind TSA agent who told me to have a good day. Another good thing that happened to me on this particular day, my bag did not get pulled aside, which is always a good thing.I breezed through the metal detector; didn't have to take my shoes off. Sometimes my Birkenstocks set it off but I didn't have to. That was a good thing that happened to me.
Another good thing that happened to me just moments later was I went up to Snooze where I like to go get breakfast. It's the breakfast spot in DIA at my airport that I go to. And every seat was full except for one- one solo seat sitting counterside up at the bar and I got to just sit down. That was a good thing that happened to me. They had a new menu and I ordered a new dish and it was a good thing and it was delicious.
It was a good thing that I had perfect timing for getting to the gate for boarding. I arrived right when it was- don't get me wrong, I was at the airport very early, that's what I do. But when I got to the gate, boom, they started letting us on for boarding. Texting with my friends was a good thing. They made me laugh and they made me giggle. Actually, that particular day I got to do a little fun Marco Polo exchange with Adrienne who helps with this podcast and that was a good thing that made it on my list.
So you get the idea here, and it's a game changer. It changed my mood, and it made me recognize, like, “Oh, look at all these good things” because what our brain is hardwired to do is point out the bad stuff, right? Ugh, the frustration that I'm flying out that day, and I have to get on another airplane, and the, ugh, the TSA line was so long and the breakfast place was so busy. And when I just shifted my brain to like, “Oh, but look at these good things.” Yes. The line was long, but you know what? It moved really fast. Yeah, the restaurant was really busy, but look, there happened to be one seat and I got to slide right in.
And I've just continued to add to this list. I don't make it like a habit that I have to do every single day, but times where I kind of feel a little bit off or my brain wants to go down the path of like, “Oh, everything is terrible” I pull this note out on my phone and I read what I have written previously, which is a happiness boost, and then I keep adding to it. So I'm up to, I've got 66 things on this list now. So some easy ones that I added was, Oh, it's a good thing when there's a Whole Foods, my favorite grocery store. When I'm traveling, I can go get a fresh salad, that's a good thing.
Oh gosh, I write this a lot apparently, that when my bag doesn't get pulled aside, I guess that's a good thing. Oh, I checked a bag recently and it's a good thing that now on the app I can confirm that my bag made it onto the plane. That's a good thing. You know what else is a good thing? Mobile ordering at Starbucks, especially at an airport when it's so busy. I love, it's a good thing when I start a brand new fiction book and it hooks me right away. Good things are always happening to me.
So that's the idea. And so that's what I want you to do this week. I want you to open up your phone. I want you to start a new note and I want you to title that, so that it comes right up when you see it on your screen, “Good Things Are Always Happening To Me.” And I want you to just start listing things.
Maybe you encourage your friends to do it. Maybe you share some of them. Maybe you do this on your own. Maybe you do this with your class. Maybe you do this with your colleagues. As always, you guys are so creative about making this work for you. But that's what I want you to try. And you know, you could do this via pictures as well. So if you don't necessarily like to write or type things out, what if you do Good Things Are Always Happening To Me and you take pictures of those things? It makes for a nice kind of visual memory there.
Again, we know the research behind this- iIt's a happiness boost, it helps us reach up to the top levels of Maslow's hierarchy, iIt just kind of rewires our brain to have a different perspective as we engage and interact with others out in the world. And it's just, it's a good thing. Good things are always happening to us. Ah, so that's what I want you to play with this week. I'm going to continue working on my list as well. Gosh, yeah, just keep adding to it and watching it grow and recognizing it's okay if you have some repeats. Obviously, I just discovered that when I was sharing here, and that's a good thing. It all still works. So don't get too caught up in a right or wrong way to do this. Just make it work for you. Just remember, that good things are always happening to you, and that the teeniest, tiniest little things are actually the big things.
I want you to make it a great week, you guys. I'm cheering so hard for you. As always, we're so grateful that Adrienne is here helping to make this magic happen. Both of us are so grateful for Marzano Resources and Solution Tree that allow us to do work that we love and we're both so grateful for all of you, our badass self care squad. Oh, good things are always happening to you and please know, I have my hand on your back and I'm cheering so stinking hard for you. Make it an amazing week.
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