Be grateful

Reflecting back on this past year, there were few bumps in the road, but there were many ups. I’ve learned over the years, that it’s incumbent on each of us to leverage the power of positive now.

According to psychologist Shawn Achor, we should focus on raising our level of positive now…

· The brain is 31% more productive

· 37% increase in sales performance

· 19% increase in doctors’ diagnosis accuracy and speed

· Dopamine makes you happier and turns on all the learning centers in your brain

Shawn suggests to do this by re-wiring our brains…

· Gratitude: Identify 3 new things to be grateful for (Emmons & McCullough 2003)

· Journaling: 1 positive experience in the last 24 hours (Slatcher & Pennebaker 2006

· Exercise (Babyak 2000)

· Meditation: Focus on the task at hand (Dweck 2007)

· Random acts of kindness: send 1 email praising or thanking someone (Lyubominsky 2005)

I’m grateful for 3 things, my beautiful wife of 35 years, 2 wonderful grown up kids, 1 grandson and a fulfilling career. Ok, 4 things. Yes, 2018 was a wonderful year.