Day 38

Well, it's been a couple of lazy lazy days - yesterday was so lazy I forgot to post at all!

• Managed to get a couple of chores done in town - was nice to go round the shops too.
• Watched the RSC's Hamlet with David Tennant and Patrick Stuart - quite enjoyable.
• Wrote a blog entry for my main blog - the first since before Christmas!

Andrew

Day 36

I'm back from my Christmas break - half of which I spent in bed killing a flu! Ah well, c'est la vie as they say!

My three positives for today are:

• The beauty of the Lake District swathed in snow and the early morning sun.
• Getting home and seeing my housemate and his cats again.
• Exchanging presents with my housemate - and the huge pile of books that's resulted!

Andrew

30

This may be my last post for a few days, as I'm going home for Christmas and leaving my laptop behind. I will have computer access when away, but whether I'll get much chance to post is debatable!

So, todays postives:

• I finished my Christmas shopping and got all the gifts wrapped
• After last night's night out, I had a pleasant evening in with tellybox
• I got some chores done for going away - tyres pumped up, car washed etc...

See you on the other side!


Andrew

Day 29

My last day at work this year! Hurrah! The 3 chosen positives for today:

• I got the key items of work done and out of the way
• Had lovely lunch out with colleagues, and we got our Christmas gifts from the boss
• Had an evening of Cranium with friends - very enjoyable!

Andrew

28!

Another lazy day - so not very much to report pr draw on either way! Here goes though:

• Spent much of the day with housemate catching up on telly and watching Hustle DVDs
• Got a few household chores sorted
• Kept up the run of posts to the main blog - 7 consecutive days now!

Back to work for one last day tomorrow, then holiday and trip home from Christmas!


Andrew

Day 27

A relaxing Saturday, with not a lot to report! Read, watched telly, went to town, chilled!

• Got a fair bit of book (The Subtle Knife) read after a few days of limited progress
• Posted on main blog and composed two (2!) entries being published tomorrow
• Did more exporing of Apple's iStore and found more podcasts to listen too!

Andrew

Day 26

A VERY good day, for reasons that will become clear in future positives in this column... For now, content yourself with the following:

• Went to Bristol and got some Christmas Shopping done
• Spent 4 year old John Lewis vouchers on an iPod Shuffle
• Paid a pre-Christmas visit to see my cousin at work

Andrew

Day 25

I've just realised that I never posted last night! So here goes:

• Had lovely evening in pub with housemate and friend.
• I managed to clear my desk of a few chores - leaving just two must do pieces of work for Monday - my last day before Christmas.
• Housemate returned home from a couple of days away with work with news that he had won a prize of airline flights... so potentially a nice holiday in the works for next year!

Andrew

Day 24

Well, another day with a long lunch - we had our work Christmas lunch today. Had evening on own, so half watched telly and did a couple of things that needed done on PC - although quite tired.

• Had good drive to work, thinking about blogs and options going forward.
• Prepped main blog post for tomorrow - am really pleased to be keeping up frequency this month.
  
• Christmas lunch was lovely - I had Lamb Shank which was delicious!

So there you have it, more positives from the widow's world!

Andrew

Day 23

A bit of a non-day at work, and an early start too, so no sunrise to cheer my journey! There were positives, though:

• I've finished Northern Lights by Philip Pullman - now on to the next one.
• I had a nice lunch courtesy of one of the product providers we use.
• Arranged accommodation at one of my bestest friends' for the first night of my Christmas break.

Andrew

Day 22

A frustrating day at work, and a busy evening, at least initially. In amongst it all, some positives:

• I've mentioned this a few times, but it's that time of year - there was a lovely wintery sunrise as I drove to work today.
• I've written and scheduled posts for my main blog for tomorrow and the next day - it's nice to be ahead!
• I had an errand which meant visiting a former colleague - cue a catch up and a bit of a natter - which ate up my lunchtime and held her back from work!

Anyway, all this blogging is holding me back from sleep - early start tomorrow too - joy!

Day 21 - 3 weeks!

So, another weekend comes to an end and after 4 days off, it's back to work tomorrow! Joy! But enough of that, I'm feeling positive!

• Managed to get Christmas cards today and therefore feel organised...
• Had lovely time this evening with guests round for part 2 X Factor Final
• Am now getting to the climax of my book, which is fantastic!

Andrew

Day 20

I can barely believe I've reached 20 days of this blog but here we are.

Today was spent looking at various catteries for my housemate's puddys to go to over Christmas. Here's the three positives:

• Had neighbours round for lovely evening of X-Factor and Wii.
• Although busy with other stuff, still managed to make progress with book, which is getting rather gripping.
• Took the littlest puddy out for a run in car to see how she coped - well, as it happened.

Andrew

Day 19

Another day off, and after a couple of late nights, a really long sleep-in! Didn't do a lot, as you'll probably be able to tell:

• Got a couple of Christmas cards including one from a friend and her husband whom I've not caught up with in a while, which was a lovely surprise.
• Watched a couple of episodes of "Life", the BBC's latest major natural history series, as well as catching up on Misfits and Trueblood in evening.
• Got more of my book read too - it's really enjoyable!

Andrew

Day 18

I had a lovely day off today, although late post due to errant cat who decided to disappear for 4 and a half hours. The positives:

• I made a lovely Apple Crumble, if I do say so myself!
• I watched a minimal amount of daytime telly - I've mentioned in this column before how daytime telly often seems to eat up days off.
• I'm now almost halfway through my book.

On top of this, I managed to get some household chores done - more of the same tomorrow, me thinks!!


Andrew

Day the 17th

Today was the last day before another couple of days off - hurrah! As such, I was keen to make sure I got everything I needed to get done today done. Did I manage it, though? Read on...

The positives today, in no particular order:

• I was sent a rather fancy diary from a Discretionary Fund Manager we deal with. Not a biggie in itself, but nice to be recognised - Paraplanners are normally the Cinderellas of the Financial Advice world!
• My post went up this morning with no hitches, and I've managed to schedule tomorrow's post tonight!
• I got all I needed done out the way today - so have left a nice clean desk till Monday!

Andrew

Day 16

Well, one of my points was going to about the (relatively) early night - but having just dosed for a couple of hours, the following apply:

• There was a lovely sunrise to accompany journey to work this morning.
• I managed to write and schedule tomorrow's post to my main blog - see column to the right!
• Was happy with my Secret Santa - of which more anon, perhaps!

Sorry 'tis so brief, but really need to get to sleep properly!


Andrew

Day 15

Back to work with a bang today... it was one of those days where time seemed to go past far too fast right from the point of getting up! As a result, these are going to be quite lame...

• I was able to have fund at work - there were only three of us in (indeed, only 2 in the morning), so a bit of banter was essential.
• I reached the 33% mark in my current book.
• A relaxing evening was capped by a relatively, and essential, early night... although, I probably should have posted this about half an hour ago and got to sleep!

So, that's it for another day! See you tomorrow!!

Andrew

Day 14

It's been a lovely social day spent with housemate and our visiting friend. Here's the designated positives:

• I managed to take 5 pictures for this month's "5 on the 5th".
• Dinner was lovely - all the better for being reduced and paid for by housemate!
• It was really good to have catch up against a backdrop of Telly and Wii games.

Andrew

Day 13

Have had a lovely chilled day which fell broadly into 3 parts, as follows:

• Had lovely morning with friends I had stayed at last night - watched some telly and had cooked breakfast.
• Spent afternoon and evening catching up with housemate.
• Ended the day with the arrival of our houseguest and receipt of some belated birthday presents.

Even the drive home was quite pleasant! It really was an ideal Saturday!


Andrew

Day 12

There is no post today, as I'm away for a night, staying with friends... Good times!

Day 11

I had another day off today, so had a lovely relaxing day. The positives were:

• I composed a lengthy book review, which I am quite pleased with, for my main blog. It can be seen here.
• I managed to do some of the household chores I never did last week when off.
• Normally when I'm off, I get sucked into watching daytime telly. Today I spent the entire day doing other things - so happy to break with habit!

As previously said, I'm starting to find this easier and am finding more than the allotted 3 things each day!

Andrew

Day 10...

Well, today's been a good day. Work was relatively relaxed, and I'm not back in 'til Friday! The chosen nuggets today are:

• The journey across the Somerset Levels was extremely pleasent this morning. The sky was clear as the sun rose across the water-logged fields. It was very picturesque.
• I got home early and had a chance to read before settling down to telly - a lovely relaxing evening.
• A friend asked me to dinner on Friday, which is something to very much look forward to.

This selection was easy to make, in that I had a choice of a few things, always a good sign!

Andrew

Day 9...

It's that time again! Here goes:

• I made a good start to my latest book, Northern Lights by Philip Pullman
• I made a lovely simple dinner of Pasta with Tapenade and Cheese
• Was pleased to publish a post for the 7th consecutive day on my main blog

So long for now, more tomorrow!

Andrew

Day 8

Well it was back to work today, and it turned out to be fair-to-middling. Picking over the entrails of the day, I am going to draw encouragment from the following:

• I finished my book, and am about to start next.
• I got a work colleague, who was suffering from a severe cold, a Starbucks' Gingerbread Latte - I think she was genuinely surprised by the gesture too.
• I kept calm despite the various pressures and got through the key items requried.

So, not a lot to report but a good enough day all round. On reflection there are other things I could have included above, which must be a good thing!

Andrew

Day 7

Well, it's the end of week one of this blog. Although some of the things I've picked as positives from my life appear trivial, I'm pleased I can pick things out at all!

I'm also pleased that the days that it's been hard to pick anything aren't the days when I've been late and frustrated at work but rather the days I've done precious little. This suggests that things aren't really as bad as I sometimes make out!

Today, though, was a lazy day and I've ended up picking these three things:

• I managed to get some rubbish taken to the tip (or cowp, as we'd say in Fife), after some weeks of meaning to.
• I almost finished my book (of which more will probably be said on my main blog once completed).
• I went to cinema and saw 2012 (not overly impressive) and Paranormal Activity (quite good).

I'm back to work tomorrow, which should throw up more positives (and negatives!). I hope to be able to blog more about other Positive Psychology techniques over the coming week.

Andrew

Day 6

It's been another lazy day, so it's another day of lame positives - but I can't think of anything negative either, which must be good!

• I managed to read a fair chunk of my book
• After housemate was away for a couple of nights during the week, we spent quite a lot of time together, and to catch up with some of the telly we'd missed
• I had another welcome sleep in

As I say, quite lame. Tomorrow should be less so - at least I'm planning on doing more!

Andrew

Day 5

It's been another lazy day for me, but there have been a number of positives - here are the three that I'm recording for posterity:

• I got a letter from my work confirming the options they're offering me in light of a greater commute due to office relocation.
  
• I got an unexpected gift from Play.com (this) which turned out to be from my sister!
  
• I managed to write a couple of posts in advance - obviously not for this blog - and these are now scheduled for Saturday and Tuesday!
  

Andrew

The Imaginatively Titled Day 4

Well, I've had the most ridiculously lazy day, so can't list a whole of achievements. That said, nothing went badly either... I can't, at present, discuss the most positive thing to happen today, so here is a rather weak and somewhat trivial list:

• I managed to have the sleep in I never got yesterday, so feel much less tired now.
• I had a stab at playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the Wii, which I borrowed from the Neighbours - and rather enjoyed it.
• I watched the Tennis - Andy Murray beat Verdasco in a 3 hour battle. At time of posting, it's still not clear if that will be sufficient to go through - fingers crossed, though.

Andrew

Day 3

Today, I had an impromptu trip to Bristol, of which there may be more to be said in due course... For now, the 3 positives are:

• Being in Bristol gave me a chance to catch up with my cousin over a coffee
• I got another chunk of my book read and feel like I really have got the reading bug back
• Being home alone gave me a chance to enjoy the Children in Need Rocks the Albert Hall gig

Andrew

Day 2...

Well, it's a late post today, but here they are:

• I got through everything I wanted to get through at work
• I had a lovely pint and catch-up with my housemate and one of his friends, followed by a Papa Johns pizza
• I started my break... no work 'til Monday!

Goodnight, all...

Andrew

The Daily Positives

I'm not a fan of the idea of using a blog as a kind of therapy, and I tend to keep my personal life out of my main blog. Recently, however, I heard a programme in which Dr Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania suggested one way to more a more positive outlook on life was to physically record, on a daily basis, 3 things that had gone well that day.

This blog, therefore, is me recording, and sharing, my daily positives.

My first three are:

• I got today's key item of work completed and approved
• I was able to relax a bit and have a bit of banter with my colleagues
• My holiday requests were okayed by my boss

For more on the inspiration for this blog, see here.