What’s your favorite day of the year? My favorite day used to be January 2 because that meant the holidays were over and I could get back to my life.
But I’ve said lots of things over the years. Things I think sound funny or smart. Sometimes they were one or the other or both. Sometimes they turned out to be neither!
In 2013, I chose a new favorite day, and it’s stuck since then. My new favorite day of the year is December 21. That was when I diagnosed myself with cancer. This day also marks the winter solstice, the turning point when days begin to grow longer and gain more light. Serendipity at work.
The normal thing might be to say that December 21 was the worst day of my life, but I wasn’t going to do that. I wanted to change my perspective, so I chose it as my new favorite day. Here’s an excerpt from that day:
Really, though, today is my new favorite day because it is the day on which I declare I am powerful.
I am brave.
I am strong.
I am funny and I am sexy and I am well, and if
I am honest … I am scared shitless.
The scared comes from not knowing exactly what I have or how I am going to attack this, though I know I will attack it with every ounce of my being. …
Tomorrow the sun will rise, and I will take note of the colors as I have done a hundred times before, and I think they will appear brighter and, I hope, with a bit of orange. That’s my favorite color. This is my journey, and today is my new favorite day, and this next year is going to be fabulous.
Earlier this month, I asked you how you’re taking care of your body and mind. Have you had a bad day recently, a bad week, or even a bad year?
How might you drive a stake in the sand and declare something positive about it from this point on? Remember, we can control only what we can control. The mind is a powerful tool. Many of you are familiar with the power of visualization.
You might be asking, “Does visualization actually work?” Research tells us that if we mentally examine our whole journey and desired outcome, recognizing the potential setbacks and seeing ourselves overcome them, then yes.
Rethinking Positive Thinking author Gabriele Oettingen says that when you watch yourself meet barriers and get past them, you’re creating an incremental path toward success. Her proven four-step visualization process is called WOOP:
Wish = visualization with incredible detail
Outcome = thinking about what your wish will bring you
Obstacle = consider the obstacles and evaluate how realistic your goal is
Plan = write a plan to get past your barriers and see yourself putting it into action
Consider wiping your slate clean and using Oettingen’s WOOP outline to visualize an incremental but committed step you can make toward taking care of you. What could that look like? Introducing healthy foods into your regimen, protecting time in your day for something that’s important to you, evaluating relationships, or revisiting a cherished hobby?
I turned the day I learned about my cancer diagnosis into a day that marked positivity and a new lease on life. What day can mark a new beginning for you?
Be positively altered,
Dr. Cindy
P.S. Hey! I have a new podcast appearance with host Nic Scogna, founder of the Institute for Modern Holistic Alchemy. Check out episode sixty-eight on the Holistic Monitor podcast.
P.P.S. Guess what? My book is available in audio format! Not the type of person who can sit still for too long? Download Positively Altered—narrated by yours truly!