The Jar of Awesome

When things don't go your way, "looking on the bright side" is a real test of your ability to show gratitude. No one is perfect at showing gratitude at first, but here's an idea that can help that I learned from Tim Ferriss, author of Tools of Titan and The Four Hour Work Week.He says “My girlfriend made and gave me the Jar of Awesome as a gift, because I’m very good at achievement and historically not good at appreciation.Here’s how it works: There is a mason jar on my kitchen counter with jar of awesome in glitter letters on the side. Anytime something really cool made me excited or joyful, doctor’s orders are to write it down on a slip of paper and put it in this mason jar. When something great happens, you think you’ll remember it 3 months later, but you won’t. The Jar of Awesome creates a record of great things that actually happened, all of which are easy to forget if you’re depressed or seeing the world through grey coloured glasses.I tend to celebrate very briefly, if at all, so this pays dividends. The Jar of Awesome has had a tremendous impact on my quality of life. I came to realize that A) If you’re serious all the time, you’ll wear out before the truly serious stuff gets done; and B) if you don’t regularly appreciate small wins, you will never appreciate the big wins. They’ll all fall through your fingers like sand as you obsess on the next week, the next to do, the next thing to fix.Now, if you don’t want to have a jar with “Jar of Awesome” written on it, you could just put a huge star or exclamation point on the side. However, the more serious you are in “real life,” the more ridiculous I think you should make it. Who are you trying to impress? If you have kids, get them involved. Many of my fans now have their entire families developing gratitude using this simple, Low tech godsend. Cultivate the habit of putting something in every day. Look for the good, practice finding the good, and you’ll see it more often.Keep a "jar of awesome" in plain sight to remind you that good things - and a lot of them - have happened when life gets you down. Don’t take for granted that the little things are the big things.”Here’s to owning your gratitude,Warm wishes,Lori