8 ways to have a great day

Things go wrong, plans get spoiled – life can be like that – but you can have a great day regardless, especially if you start your day off breathing.  if you aren’t, my guess is you don’t need this column!

1. Believe in Fate.  Whatever happens today is meant to happen.  So what if you didn’t get to drive to the beach because you had a flat tyre this morning – don’t worry about it.  You weren’t meant to go to the beach today.  You probably would have gotten a bad case of sunburn and sand in your crotch!
2. Improvise.  If it is raining when you wake and your romantic picnic plans are now spoiled – don’t be sad.  Stop, smell the rain, think of all the plants getting watered and pull the blanket up around you and be grateful that you have a comfortable bed and a dry home.  There are plenty who don’t!   You can always have a “naked” indoor picnic with your loved one!
3. Take a moment.  You are at work and you are trying to beat a deadline but your telephone doesn’t stop ringing, your colleague keeps asking questions and you are missing the final piece of information you need to finish.  Stop, take a deep breath, get up and go for a walk outside for 5 minutes.  Think about how lucky you are to have a job and how different your life would be if you were unable to work.  You will return with a fresh attitude.
4. Look through someone else’s eyes.  You have an important function to attend at the weekend and you don’t have enough money to buy a new outfit.  Don’t be depressed – I bet you have a cupboard full of clothes you can wear, you just don’t see it.   Invite your favourite and most stylish friend over and ask her to be your stylist for the occasion.  My guess is you will be amazed at what someone else can do with your wardrobe.
5. When one door closes another always opens.  That special someone you have had your eye on for some months has just started dating your work colleague … bummer!  Don’t be glum – it wasn’t meant to be.  What it means is your eyes can now be opened to that person you couldn’t previously see. 
6. Enjoy the moment.   Your team just lost the footy final – well if you are a guy – this may not quite work for you, but you could give it a try.  Ok they lost -  well unfortunately shit happens.  Someone always has to lose and if it is not you crying in your beer it will be someone else.  Why bother – game’s over, life goes on.   Go out and still have a bloody good time – there is always next year and what counts is right now – who knows where you will be next year.
7. Forgiving really is easier.  Your sister borrowed your favourite dress without asking and ruined it.  You haven’t spoken to her for 2 weeks now.   You are miserable and every spare moment you are seething about what she has done whilst she appears to not care, and that is bothering you more than the dress.  Reality is she’s not doing anything to you - you are doing it to yourself.  She has apologised and offered to pay for a new one but you can’t let it go and it’s eating you up.   Why?  Accept her apology and move on – you will feel 100 times better.  It is so easy to do – you take responsibility for how you feel and stop giving that power to others.  
8. Be grateful.  No matter what is going on in your life there is always someone in the world who is going through something worse.  When you feel like your life is caving in and it can’t get worse – spare a thought for people living in third world countries, victims of rape and abuse, the terminally ill and those people who are totally alone forgotten by families and friends.  I guarantee you will feel grateful for what you have.
    

Of course things happen and we do feel sad and we do have bad days, but all it often takes is just looking at something from a different perspective.   Try it sometime – you have nothing to lose but a bad day!

Take care x