In last week’s Wellness Wednesday, we focused on the power of habits and our need to be aware of their impact on the quality of our relationships and experiences.
Let’s begin this week’s message with a simple chart:
Choice Situation
Positive -> Positive
Negative -> Positive
Positive -> Negative
Negative -> Negative
We can label every situation in our life as being positive or negative.
· Positive: a friend recently gave birth to a healthy baby girl.
· Negative: my grandson fell on the playground and got a concussion.
The choice we have in every situation is to bring positive or negative energy. This choice includes the possibility of bringing negative energy to positive situations and positive energy to negative situations. The energy that we bring to these situations is often delivered via our habits.
Today let’s consider Positive Mental Habits or what we at Top 20 call Star Qualities. These are a host of ways by which we can bring positive energy to positive situations and negative situations.
As you scan through the following list of Star Qualities, identify two that you would like to develop in yourself.
Self-confidence: believing in my self and my abilities
Risk-taking: taking the difficult road to expand my comfort zone
Self-motivation: getting myself started
Enthusiastic: having energy and interest for what I’m doing
Reflective: truly looking at myself
Emotionally aware: in touch with how my feelings influence my actions
Empowered: realizing that I’m in charge of my future
Responsible: being dependable; someone others can count on
Self-disciplined: taking control of myself
Flexibility: adapting to change and the stress created by it
Toughness: dealing with adversity when things aren’t going my way
Challenge: seeing problems as learning opportunities
Courageous: responding in spite of fear or lack of confidence
Commitment: valuing putting forth my full effort
Optimistic: hopeful, valuing the positive
Opportunistic: keeping my eyes and ears open for possibilities
Fun: realizing that learning and working with others can be joyful
Respectful: honoring others by my words and actions
Acceptance: valuing diversity and people who are different than me
Communication: willing to listen to others and share appropriately
Honest: valuing living with truth and communicating truth
Empathetic: understanding what others are going through
Team player: helping; working well with others
Open minded: accepting points of view different than my own
Conflict resolution: working through issues in a peaceful manner
Tact: expressing myself with concern for other’s feelings
Kindness: going out of my way to be nice and considerate of others
Time management: making good use of my time
Proactive: seeing what needs to be done and doing it
Focus: keeping my attention on the task or goal
Persistent: sticking with the job until it is finished
Patience: realizing that success often doesn’t come easily
Organized: able to look ahead and keep my life in order
Goal setting: planning to meet long and short-term needs
Creative: inventive, full of ideas, able to see or do things in a new way
Resourceful: finding a way to get the job done
I’m going to select Risk-taking and Acceptance for myself.
Each morning, make an affirming statement about the Star Qualities you selected.
Example: “Today I am going to be more accepting. I am going to value diversity and people who are different than me.” As you go through the day, look for opportunities to practice your Star Qualities. When these opportunities come, don’t let them pass by without taking advantage of the opportunity to practice.
Habits take 21 days to develop. On March 31st you will have a reason to celebrate two new Positive Mental Habits.
From our Top 20 team…Kevin Brennan, Willow Sweeney, and Tom Cody…whose Star Qualities have shone brightly on my path for more than 20 years.
Paul Bernabei
Director
Top 20 Training
paul@top20training.com
