Sometimes, the simplest tweak to our days can have a significant effect on your life. For example, laying out your workout gear each day can increase your motivation to work out. Staying off your phone each morning can improve your focus and productivity.
Perhaps easiest of all, reflecting upon your day before you go to sleep each night can allow you to increase your sense of appreciation for life.
Each night, as you settle into your bed, what if you took a few minutes to ask yourself, “What was my favorite part of the day?” While any given day might have its ups and downs, this simple question calls upon you to replay the day’s events in your mind, looking for what you’d deem the best one. Perhaps something obviously wonderful happened or perhaps the most enjoyable part was quite simple, like your first sip of coffee in the morning or the kind hello you received from a stranger in the afternoon. Whatever it was, write it down before drifting off to sleep.
Keeping a notebook or journal beside your bed, along with some pens, makes it easy to establish the habit of jotting down a simple description of your favorite part of the day. Sometimes, it might be hard to choose just one favorite part. What a blessing. In that case, write them all down. Other nights, as you reflect upon your day, you might find that it was full of challenges and it may seem difficult to come up with even one positive part of the day. If you absolutely had to, though, what would it be? Don’t go to bed without taking note of the best part of that day, even if it was getting through it and into bed.
The benefits of this very simple nightly act are manifold. What happens when you recognize your favorite part of each day on a consistent basis over a period of time? First, you enhance your appreciation and gratitude for life. Second, you hone your ability to look for the good in situations. Third, you chronicle positive details of your days that you might otherwise forget, watching them accumulate over time. Last, you may even find yourself actively making moments more joyful and positive for yourself and others so that you can immortalize them in your notebook at the end of the day.
Some people put off enjoying and appreciating their lives. They think once they make enough money, reach a certain career milestone, live in the right location, or lose enough weight, they can be happy. The truth is that, regardless of successes or failures, life will always have good parts and not-so-good parts. When you take time each day to acknowledge your favorite part, you experience appreciation for your life in the here and now.
Why not give it a try? Before you go to bed tonight, ask yourself this simple question: “What was my favorite part of the day?”
