“When we’re going through traumatic experiences -- living them SUCKS.” I told my friend Sian. “Then sometimes, we get to use them as material.”

I was helping her write a personal essay about overcoming a challenging family situation. And we were using the Soul Writing process to flesh out her transformation that came from it.

It got me thinking about a notebook I keep called The Book of Positive Aspects.

It’s kind of like a gratitude journal, except different.

Each day you look at 5 things in life and find the positive side to them.

Could be anything. A few I’ve written about lately are spraining my ankle just after I moved to Austin, creating a new writing space, dating during COVID, making friends in a new city, and the network of writers I belong to.

Then I write down a few sentences about how and why they’re positive.

What I like most about this is that I’m training my brain to be more optimistic.

Because as humans we’re designed to look for what’s wrong. We skew to the negative.

I know I have to practice looking for the upside of things. Which isn’t necessarily about being positive - it’s about flipping the script. I have to consciously change the conversation inside my head.

And writing them down builds that muscle memory - it makes it stick.

Try it. You don’t have to buy a fancy new notebook. Use whatever you have.

But for one week write down the 5 positive aspects of your life each day. And if you’re up for the challenge pick something that you usually complain about and see what parts of it you flip the script about.

When I decide to use this notebook I usually do one week sprints. Spending a 5-10 minutes everyday for a week can help you shift things just that lil’ bit.

And the more we train ourselves to look for the positive aspects in life, the more we see new opportunities. It’s not about positive affirmations - it’s about practicing that every situation can be looked at from multiple points of view.

I love to hear what you think in the comments…have you tried something like this before?