Making Your Glass MORE THAN ½ Full! By Sheryl Lynn

Each day you wake up and get ready for what the day is about to bring you.  Most of the day you are upbeat and happy and at look at life from the viewpoint of, “Yes indeed, my glass is 1/2 full." For just a moment I would like you to imagine that perhaps that glass can be more than ½ full.

You are sitting at the kitchen table with a FULL glass of water in front of you.  It would be great to keep the glass full all day, yet life happens. Visualize the day ahead of you and each time an event happens that is not uplifting or empowering, see yourself pouring out a little of that water.  When something uplifting or empowering comes to you during the day, see yourself filling up the glass just a little with a bottle of water sitting off to the side

Now pay close attention to the things that come your way. Even the little things that may seem insignificant, yet are really taking away or adding to your glass of water.

One morning I tried this. I had my full glass of water when I got up at 6:00 A.M. The my daughter came downstairs crying saying she was sick and could not go to school.  Her sadness zapped a little water from my full glass of water.  The news was on and 3 deaths, two accidents and 1 protest left later me with only a 1/2 full glass.  I kissed my other daughter goodbye at school and told her she looked beautiful. More water in my glass when I arrive home, I thought. On the drive home from school though, I was honked at, not sure why, yet the person was not happy with me. This now voided my last thought.  I arrived back at my home office.  I proceeded to check my E-mail. There were 17 undelivered emails. I tipped the glass leaving ¼ glassful of water left.  One email however said, "THANK YOU Sheryl..." and as my heart skipped a beat in excitement of this person’s appreciation for something I did for her, I put back in some water in the glass.   At 8:43 A.M.  my glass was now 1/3 filled with water.

And the day goes on like this. Overall, you can see if I am not consciously putting MORE empowering and uplifting things in my glass ON PURPOSE, by the end of the day the glass would likely be empty.  I would feel "dehydrated" and drained, wondering how I could do it again the next day.

This is why I believe so strongly that we must FOCUS on success.  Deliberately creating a life of celebration, a life of success, a life filled with joy and happiness is an individually designed life. It takes practice to get good at living the day, every day with a full glass of water.  As well, patience is required as it is easy to forget the importance of each action taken.  A little creativity never hurts either – when days get long and the glass is near empty, sometimes STOPPING to rest or call a friend can start filling the glass up again.

Here is what I did to train myself to constantly be on the lookout for the success in my life. First I decided that I needed to take 3 times a day to stop and reflect on all the wonderful life events of each day. The success that came my way, even if it was a small baby step – was success. The first time was when my morning was complete, second, mid-afternoon as I begin to get that sluggish feeling and third, early evening so that I can set myself up for a fun and a loving evening with my family.

To remind me of taking this time to celebrate my success, I simply set my cell phone alarm for NOON, 3:00 P.M and 6:00 P.M.  That way I have to STOP whatever I am doing, (because I have to physically grab my phone and shut it off). Now, when the alarm goes off I can really look at the hours previous and highlight the successes.  Sometimes nothing really happened so I had to say, "Look Sheryl, you are wearing a new piece of jewelry today" or "Paul answered his phone today and he was very pleasant."  I search until I find 3 or 4 things that support me, that are uplifting and are “feel good” experiences at each of the three daily alarms.   

You can see how paying attention to your success can keep your glass full to the brim. This slight difference each and every day you are alive will generate a life time filled with magical moments that create MORE celebration and success!  Now set that alarm and expect to be fully hydrated at the end of today!

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Wanted: People sharing Successful Celebrations!  Please send yours celebrations to sheryl@localapplause.com.
Sheryl Lynn, a dynamic, one-of-a-kind entrepreneur has constructed an organization on the building blocks of lessons learned through life. She inspires individuals, organizations and corporations to excel one-by-one, building team and corporate success on the basis of personal development for each and all.  Visit www.LocalApplause.com or call 904-471-2585 for more information.