(My husband keeps this quote on the inside of the bathroom medicine cabinet as a daily reminder.)

What can you do when the situation gets worse?

You can improve.

Life throws many challenges at you.  And you always can respond in a positive, effective way.

It is wise to plan for the future and to prepare for the future.

Yet there is

no

need

to

worry

about the future.

Because whatever the future may bring, you will find an answer for it.  Whatever events may transpire, you can craft a powerful and successful response that will move your life forward.

It may indeed be very difficult.

And in transcending that difficulty, you have the opportunity to find great fulfillment.

Dream big dreams that resonate perfectly with who you are, and know that you will reach them.  For whatever may come, you can make it work for you.

Think of something that at first, you weren’t very good at, but with practice, you improved.

How about walking?  Most of us took a spill or two (hundred) when we were learning to walk.

What about writing?  It comes easily to me now but watching my first-grader s-l-o-w-l-y

w-r-i-t-e

t-h-e

l-e-t-t-e-r-s

i-n

h-e-r

h-o-m-e-w-o-r-k

sometimes calls for all the patience I can muster.

I’m fast at writing.  I have nearly perfected walking.  (Though I still require assistance on black ice.)  The more I practiced the better I got.  Repetition.  That’s what it took.

In 1949, Canadian psychologist Donald Hebb suggested a theory in which he said that “the persistence or repetition of a reverberatory activity tends to induce lasting cellular changes that add to its stability.”

Allow me to restate (in English.)  When we think a thought over and over, new connections are created in our brain.  Repetition of that thought creates more connections which become engrams – similar to memories.  “The more a thought is held, the easier for that thought remembered or activated.”

John Kehoe, author of Mind Power had this to say about the value of repetitious thoughts.  “Although a single unaided thought hasn’t much power, through repetition the thought can become concentrated and directed, and its force can be magnified many times.  The more the thought is repeated the more energy and power it generates, and the more readily it is able to manifest itself.”

“Weak and scattered thoughts are weak an scattered forces.

Strong and concentrated thoughts are strong and concentrated forces.”

With that in mind what

word

phrase

belief

motto

would you most like create an engram of in your mind?  What don’t you believe that you want to believe?

Each day I repeat this phrase in my mind.

“I am a courageous, capable, beautiful, healthy, dynamic woman.”

I think it as I run on the treadmill.
I say it in my head as I get dressed.
I repeat it while I drive carpool.
I think it when I feel insecure and unsure of myself.

I chose those five words – courageous, capable, beautiful, healthy and dynamic, not because that’s what I believe about myself – but because it is what I struggle to believe about myself.

Repeating those words has helped me to believe those words.

Those types of thoughts give us the courage to reach higher, dream bigger, achieve more.

So don’t wait…

Choose your word.
Choose your phrase.
Think it.
Repeat.

March is Women’s History Month.  It celebrates women like…

Madeleine Albright, the first female U.S. Secretary of State…

…and Gertrude Ederle, the first American woman to swim across the English Channel…

…and Sarah Caldwell the first woman to conduct at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House…

…and women just like me and you who are making a difference, leaving a mark and raising the bar in our very own circles of influence.

Every difference we make, every mark we leave and every bar that is raised begins with

One. Single. Thought.

For Madeleine, Gertrude and Sarah, perhaps that first thought was something like…

“I am interested in politics.”

“I am a good swimmer.”

“I have a natural gift for music.”

From there, the inspiration grew.  The ideas developed.  The beliefs became reality.  I am convinced that for successful women in every realm, thought is the seed of success.  They were great thinkers.

Women’s History Month is also for great thinkers like me and you.  Every day we are training our minds for success.  You and I are learning to fill our minds with positives.  Perhaps ours sound something like…

“I can accomplish anything I put my mind to.”

“The strength of others inspires me daily.”

“I have something to give.”

We all have reasons to celebrate.  From the ”front-page success stories” to the “only God and I know” personal victories.

There is greatness and unlimited potential inside every single one of us.

Find it.  Believe it.  Live it.

“Find a penny, pick it up;
The rest of the day, you’ll have good luck.”

How many times has that phrase gone through your head (or even slipped out under your breath) when you’ve unexpectedly come across a penny?

It is so exciting!  A PENNY!  It isn’t really even the penny we get excited about…it’s the hope

…of something good happening

 …if we pick it up and put it in our pocket!

I have found FIVE pennies in FIVE days.

Imagine my surprise when I found the fifth penny today on a walk with my friend.  When the penny caught my eye, I gasped and reached down to pull it from the pavement.  My friend (who was with me when I found a penny on our walk two days ago) said, “Hey!  You found a penny on Monday too!”

I’d like to think that by simply carrying the penny in my pocket, good things will come my way.

Maybe it would work.

Maybe it wouldn’t.

I don’t know.

I tend to be the kind of person who likes to have a little more control over my life than that.  I don’t want to leave things up to luck or chance.  I don’t want to just hope that I’ll happen upon a penny and that the penny will somehow change my day.  (But admittedly, it is fun to play along!)  I like to take matters into my own hands.  The clicker is the perfect way of taking matters into my “own hands.”  If I’m looking for something to brighten my day, I’d take a clicker in my pocket over five pennies any time.

Clicking is something I have control over…and it helps me to focus and refine my thoughts.   It helps me find the good.  Clicking DOES make my day better.  That has been the case every time.  Without fail.

I click and I feel happy.

I click and I feel successful.

I click and I feel empowered, able, determined, positive.

I don’t even have to hope to stumble upon a clicker somewhere in the road or laying in the grocery store aisle (although that is a hilarious concept…clickers laying randomly for us to pick up and use…what a thought!)

No…I don’t have to leave things up to luck or chance.  I just have to click.

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Aaahhh.  Preschool.  I remember it well – not when I went (that would be expecting too much of my non-elephant-like memory).  I’m talking about when I sent my own children.

There is something so wonderful about sending our little ones off to preschool.  We know they are learning new things, interacting with other children, experiencing…growing.

And…

we get a few minutes to breathe.  (Or switch out the laundry.)

One cleaver preschool teacher has incorporated clicking in the classroom!  (Brilliant…if you ask me.)  She’s creating a positive, encouraging environment for the children.

It has success written all over it!

Here’s what Rebecca has to say:

“I am a preschool teacher and I’ve introduced my little students to my clicker.  I use it as a positive reinforcement for any behavior I’m trying to strengthen.  It works miracles!  There are endless ways to apply it to your classroom.  Do what works for you.  We have a goal of how many clicks we want to try to get to.  Sometimes I click the clicker for them since I’m wearing it, sometimes I let them click it.  I’ve cleared up behavioral problems, homesickness, classroom chatter, shyness, etc., by utilizing the clicker in my classroom.  I’m even thinking of having a clicker for each child next year, hanging on personalized hooks and utilizing them all year long as a reward system.  They love it!”

Take your clicker to preschool for show n’ tell.  Judging from Rebecca’s experience, you are going to have a lot of amazing things to “tell.”

I play the piano.  One of my favorite pieces is “Claire de Lune,” by Debussy.  Years of practice came before I was ready to tackle this complex work.   I remember my piano teacher explaining how to pronounce Debussy’s name – every syllable should be given equal accent.   Then she began to teach me to play this beautiful piece of art.  There were hundreds of notes, new phrasings, and intricate rhythms to be mastered.

When I was eight years old, I began learning to play the piano.  My first piece was only for the right hand – and it was only single notes.  It couldn’t have been more than eight measures long.

I learned it.

One
note
at
a
time.

One hand, lead to playing with two hands.

Eight measures lead to countless measures…
as I continued practicing.

Most things we learn to do take practice -

soccer

violin

oil painting

speaking a new language

driving

typing

watercolors

French horn

ice skating

making crepes

(you get the idea…)

You might like knowing that it takes practice to be an optimist!  Not everyone is born with a cheery, look-on-the-bright-side type of personality.  Some of us have to work at it – and it most definitely makes me feel better to know I can get better at being optimistic.

[op-tuh-mist] – Here are a few definitions…

One who has a disposition or tendency to look on the more favorable side of events or conditions and expects the most favorable outcome.

One who has an inclination to put the most favorable construction upon actions and events or anticipates the best possible outcome.

(This one is my favorite…)

Someone who practices positive thinking.

Did you catch that?  “Someone who practices positive thinking!”  We have to practice!  That is exciting – that means even people who aren’t naturally positive can, with practice, become optimists!  We can train ourselves to anticipate the best possible outcome.  We can learn to look on the favorable side of things.  We can develop the skill of finding the good in people and situations!

THAT is happy!  Being an optimist is within the reach of anyone who is willing to practice.

So…start today.  Start right now!  Start small – just like learning the piano one note at a time.

Begin one thought at a time.