Misty Zaugg's Blog - Posts Tagged "gratitude-journal"

Hi friends,

First of all - thank you for all of you who wrote me about how you use a TENS unit for chronic pain. Many of you suffer a lot more than me, and I admire how much you keep on keeping on. Hats off to you!

For those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you had a beautiful one with your family!

For everyone else, did you know that actively looking for positive things and being grateful can influence all kinds of things in your life?

Like what?
• helps with stress
• diminishes depression
• strengthens relationships
• increases sense of well-being (ie. you're happier!)
• improves resilience - difficult things don't throw you as much.
• and lots more

Pretty impressive, isn't?

Since I know all this, you might wonder if I've tried a gratitude journal or other experiment.

Well, I'm the kind of person who often knows what's best for me to do, but ends up with lots of good intentions I don't always follow through on. I usually need a push.

Sound familiar?

So, here's a little push. Would any of you like to join me in writing down three things a day for three weeks that you're grateful for?

I really just need one or two of you to join me . . . it's always more fun to work on a task with friends.

I'm challenging my kids to participate, too.

Starting today, here is my 6-year-old daughter's list:
1. Stuffing (as in the Thanksgiving dish)
2. Felix - the dog we're watching this week.
3. Gum . . . ice cube artic grape flavor, in case you were wondering which specific flavor. :)

And mine (in no particular order):
1. Dark chocolate
2. God
3. A husband who hugs me

Another rule for this challenge is you can't write the same thing twice. I hear that around the end of the first week, you run out of everyday ideas and begin to search the world around you for things you've never noticed before.

That is the mind shift that I'm shooting for. To train my brain to go through life looking for the good, instead of the tendency we often have to latch onto difficulties and disappointments and worry at them over and over in our minds.

Send me a quick note if you want to join me. I'd love to put together a newsletter down the road about your experiences if you'd like to share.

I hope you and your family are enjoying the holiday season!
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Misty's Writing Update:

I just finished writing my post-apoc Christmas story this morning.

I don't want to spoil it, but it's loosely based on an amazing WW1 story that I've always loved since I first heard it as a kid.

Did you know that during the first Christmas of WW1, some of the world powers pushed for a Christmas cease-fire, but couldn't get everyone to agree?

However, across the no-man's land between trenches up and down the line, soldiers began to spontaneously sing Christmas carols, the same songs, but different languages.

One side finally took the leap and climbed up out of their trench, hands raised to show they were unarmed.

The other side was rightfully suspicious of the soldiers that had just been killing them the day before, but they didn't shoot. When the peace continued to hold, they took the risk themselves and climbed up into the no-man's land that still held the cooling bodies of their comrades.

For a single day, they put aside their enmity, sang carols, shared treats and are rumored to even have played a friendly game of soccer.

It still touches me to imagine the amazing event.

I consider myself both a realist and an optimist. While I like to be prepared and plan for the worst, I hope for the best from the world and the people around me.

I'll let you know when our Christmas project is live and send you the link for your free copy.

Then, you'll have to let me know how you like my version of the WW1 Christmas ceasefire.

Enjoy your reading this week!

— Misty :)
Misty Zaugg Website

Hi friends,

Thanks you to everyone who joined me in writing three things a day that you're grateful for.

I'm still planning on doing it for two more weeks, so anyone who'd like to jump aboard, feel free. It's actually a nice few moments each day to sit and contemplate what I'm grateful for that day - and the rule not to duplicate an item on the list during the three weeks is forcing me to stretch a bit. Love it! :)

I'm writing this ahead of time because by the time you read this, I will have had my second kidney stone surgery on Thursday. Eek!

Thankfully, I have an amazing doctor who is a bit of an expert in the field, and I'm praying he'll be able to get all the stones out this time without leaving any behind to bother me in the future.

The healing last time was a bit teeth-clenching - everything is painful and they leave this stent-thing in for a week or two. Fingers crossed it heals up more quickly this time.

In the end, though, I'm extremely grateful for the medical care I have access to and do my best not to take it for granted.

Thanks to all of you who have sent me well wishes - you're such an amazing group of friends!

I'll check back in next week and let you know how things went.

Happy holidays to you and your family!

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Misty's Writing Update:

Well, I got a couple of days of writing done in the first part of the week, but between pre-surgery covid tests, CT scans, etc, things got a bit too busy to write much more.

Hopefully, this is early enough in the month that I'll be all recovered and ready to enjoy the holidays with my family.

Oh, and did I tell you the good news?

My son, his wife and my very beautiful granddaughter will be coming out to visit. I can't wait to hold her again.

How about you? I hope you have nice plans for the holidays and get to spend them with the people you love.

All the best to all of you!

— Misty :)
Misty Zaugg Website