Afternoon light hitting water as it spews from sprinkler

Because of our brain's built-in negativity bias, we have to consciously make efforts to notice the positives. We vacuum up the smallest negative detail and overlook and take for granted the good things. To rebalance your brain, you have to actively seek anything that could remotely be positive and then soak it up into your system. It's nice to know that (1) we can change our brains and (2) there is endless opportunity to find good around us!

Let good facts become good experiences. Notice positive events (someone is nice to you, you complete a task), conditions (flowers are blooming, chocolate tastes good), and qualities in yourself (I care about others) - and then let them affect you and become positive feelings, body sensations, and thoughts.

Stay with the good experience 5, 10 even 30 seconds in a row. Let the experience fill your body and mind and be as intense as possible.

Sense and intend that this good experience is sinking into you, like water into a sponge, becoming a resource inside you. Try to heighten the feeling as you absorb it -- maybe you feel a little warmth, a little tingle, a little lightness. That's exactly it!

I'm talking about finding pleasure in even the smallest of ways. Every morning when I'm getting ready, I toss some tissue paper from across the room into the trash and laugh as I miss the can every time. One of these days I am going to make that basket and I am going to jump for joy!! That will be a great way to start my day, for real.

Update: October 13, 2016. It happened! I made the basket. I hooted out loud and did a little jig. That was about it. Twenty minutes later, I got invited by a friend to join her in box seats at The Hollywood Bowl that night. Are these events connected? Probably not. However, I believe that because I purposefully seek out and seize moments like this to feel joy, I am wrapped in a state of positive energy. And it's because I am imbued with that positive energy, that opportunities like the Hollywood Bowl come my way. That's what I believe.