Friday, April 9, 2010

Grow Where You're Planted

“Grow where you are planted” – Proverb

I think this is the hardest thing for me to master. I like to think I have the ability to uproot and go plant myself somewhere new to grow. That is not always as simple as it sounds. As a child, I always thought as an adult I would be able to go, be and do whatever I wanted. Now I realize it is not so easy. So, I am left to struggle with contentment.

Trying to find things to be thankful for in Memphis is not always easy. I actually avoid the nightly news just so that I can have a more optimistic approach to the city. Last night I saw a documentary on Shelby Farms. It was a past, present and future approach to the legacy of the park. I particularly enjoyed seeing the future of the park and all of the new plans for development. It was really exciting. It is one of the things I am most grateful for in Memphis. I love going to the park and walking around. It is usually the first place I take people who come to visit me. Since our city has the awful reputation of being so dangerous, I like to show people a softer side to the city. I think the park does a wonderful job of bringing people together and I think when the plans are finished it will connect the city in a very positive way.

The city itself might not have a very positive image, but I have to recognize all of the things that make this city very special to me. I have a great job here, I have a beautiful park to play in, I have wonderful friends and there is always something to do here. So today I am going to try to grow where I am planted.

Things I am grateful for about Memphis:

1. Shelby Farms and Shelby Forrest.

2. The music scene and Beal Street.

3. The beautiful river walk on a summer day.

4. All of the activities for runners and cyclists.

5. Macy’s. I love to live down the street from Macy’s.

6. Whole Foods market. I love organic apples.

7. The Farmers Market downtown.

8. FedEx. I love my job.

9. All of the amazing local restaurants and bars.

10. FedEx Forum, concerts and the Grizzly’s.

11. Tiger’s Basket Ball.

12. The Zoo. It is my second favorite Zoo next to the St. Louis Zoo. I <3 our Pandas.

13. Estate Sales. The best around. You can find any and everything!!

14. Sheffield’s Antique Mall in Collierville. I love that place. So many dishes!

15. An Airport that can get you most anywhere you want to go.

16. Midtown / Cooper Young restaurants with patios in the spring.

17. That we have Craigslist. You can find all kinds of cool stuff on there.

18. All of the culture and heritage.

19. Our wonderful legal community.

20. Last but most important, all of the wonderful friends that I have made.


Cyn

Thursday, April 8, 2010

An Attitude of Gratitude

“Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.” ~Brian Tracy


Everyday that you wake up you will have choices to make. The first one will be whether or not to get out of bed and face your responsibilities. If you manage to get through that choice then there will be hundreds more to face you today. For people who deal with depression, that can be the most challenging and most overwhelming thing to face. However, if you can choose to let it empower you then it’s a beautiful thing. Your attitude is always a choice.

I can get out of bed angry because I have to go to work or I can choose to be grateful for the job I have waiting for me. How you choose to look at this decision is also a choice. You can view life with either an optimistic or a pessimistic approach. It’s your call.

I believe optimism can be learned. It can be achieved in part through an attitude of personal control. "Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life" by Martin Seligman, is a book I had to read in college for a Psychology class. This book changed my idea of optimism. "Personal control means the ability to change things by one’s voluntary actions: it is the opposite of helplessness." This quote from the book is the main theme. Making good choices everyday about your life is exactly what it means to have personal control. You can always choose how you react and respond to all the situations life presents you. This is how you achieve the personal control to tackle those difficult days.

I will make this a great day! I will do that by finding the moments in my day to be thankful for and to stay focused on the positive and eliminate the negative. That is my mission statement today.

1. I am thankful that I can look above my cube wall and see a beautiful blue sky outside today. Blue is my favorite color and it makes me very happy.

2. This morning Adam and I chatted on black berry messenger and my friend called me from L.A. I am going to lunch with my girlfriends for lunch and then I am going to see a man about a sweet dog this evening.

3. My hair curled just right for once instead of going flat. Now girls, we all know that is always something to be thankful for. HAHA!

4. I am so happy that my work environment is very friendly and cooperative.


5. I am very thankful for my peaceful life.

Cyn

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

5 Things

Starting a gratitude journal:

It’s really basic. You list 5 things every day that you are grateful for in your life. If you do this every day with out fail, then you will begin to see a positive change in your attitude and outlook on life. The goal is to not get repetitive. So to achieve this goal, you will need to look for things to be thankful for.

Here are mine for today

1. To have my girlfriends at work to sit with when we have all day meetings. They lift my spirits.

2. To get a good morning message from Adam everyday. It starts my day on a happy note. It’s a sweet reminder that I am loved.

3. To have dogs up with the sun to greet me every morning. They wait patiently for me to wake up because they know I am not a morning person. It’s pretty funny.

4. To have a good company to work for and managers that care about our needs and concerns.

5. To be able to get what I need and to mostly get what I want too.

It is so easy for me to look at the day and find everything that is going wrong. If you find 5 things every day, then at the end of the year you will have discovered 1,825 things that you've found gratitude with in your life. Try it and tell me what you find.

Peace be with you,

Cyn