Flourish ~ Daily Log 1/26

Today has been a crazy productive day.  I'm On Call for one of my jobs all weekend, which requires me to stay nearby and at home.  Since I've been a bit behind on schoolwork, I decided that I'd spend all day catching up.  And that's exactly what I did. Since about 10:30am this morning (it is now 10:30pm), I have been doing all of my reading and assignments for my classes (of course, with intermittent breaks for food, calls, small breaks, etc.).  For the last couple of hours, I have been doing the reading for my Positive Psychology class.  I was really close to dropping this class about a week ago (my teacher is horrible), but I decided to stick through it for the content.

And I'm so glad I did.

Along with the textbook, we are assigned to read the book "Flourish" by the founder of the Positive Psychology movement, Martin Seligman.  I'm only a few chapters in, but despite being isolated in my house all day I feel a major sense of contentment.  I really look forward to reading on and utilizing all of the tools that it provides.

One of the first exercises it recommends is called the "Three Blessings" exercise. Basically, every night you put aside 10 minutes of your time to reflect on what went well during your day. You identify three things, and then you answer for each of them "Why did this happen?"  This is a very simple exercise, perhaps some may even say its silly, but I've decided that one of my 'small steps' that I'm going to take on my journey to bettering myself is incorporating this exercise into my daily routine. Why not? Research shows that "The odds are that you will be less depressed, happier,and addicted to this exercise six months from now."

Here goes.

My Three Blessings or "What Went Well"
1. I was able to finish a lot of my reading, which I have been putting off.

• Why did this happen? I made a conscious decision to set aside the entire day, knowing that getting my reading done will make my life easier as midterms come around.  Since I'm On Call, stuck at home, and unable to work my other job, it was the perfect opportunity to get it done.

2. I didn't have too many calls for my job, and the calls that I did get were very minor.

• Why did this happen? I guess everyone else is having a good day as well, and didn't need to contact me for an emergency :)

3. I made a delicious new meal for dinner.

• Why did this happen? I'm a bit of a Pinterest addict, and have lately been trying to find healthy recipes since I love to cook.  I find cooking to be a very fun hobby, especially when I get to try new things.  I happened to have Tofu at home, and found a great recipe that used an ingredient I never have before - Kale.  It turned out great, and it was less than 250 calories!

Well that was fun! In other news, I didn't really keep track of my food intake today because I was so focused on reading.  I definitely didn't go over my calorie limit though; if anything, I was below.  My main meal of the day was the recipe I described above, so since this is technically a log, here goes:

Thai Black Pepper and Garlic Tofu (find the recipe here)

• I changed a couple of items to suit the ingredients I already had in the house. I baked the Tofu in a Garlic Pepper sauce for 30 minutes, meanwhile sauteing Zucchini, Yellow Squash, Kale, Bean Sprouts, and Mushrooms in another delicious and spicy sauce. This turned out way better than expected, and I'd highly recommend it! I'm not a Vegan or Vegetarian by any means, I just love trying new things :)