A mind shift. An attitude change. A complete 180, if you will. I got smacked in the face and called out this week. Not only by my Mother, (who, respectfully has that job) but by a new friend of mine too. They both called me out (each in their own way) on my negative attitude. Which made me stop and really think for a few moments. [by a few moments I mean a night of bad sleep and a long run and multiple TEDtalks later…] I realized I had to change it. I decided, yes, I made a very conscious decision to change my attitude. And it’s been a conscious effort to maintain it too.

I was giving all the credit of my bad attitude to this being hard, instead of me not trying. I am now 100% making an effort to be happier, to be more positive, to stop getting down on myself and to quit living the romantsized version of Hollywood self-deprecation. How do I expect other people to love me if I have a bad outlook on myself and verbalize it constantly? Down with negativity!

So in effort to change this I am down playing the negative self-talk, I’m slowing down. I am taking more time to read, more time to teach a lesson, more time on yoga, more time on writing—these endeavors are already making a huge difference in my life. Seemingly small changes are making me realize the beauty of where I am and what I’m doing. I am smiling more, I am appreciating every hug the children give me, every kindness the Thai people offer—I’m finally living closer to the now instead of the when.

…take a day, take an hour, to cut one negative thing out of your vocabulary, look in the mirror and smile, say I am awesome once a day—see what happens.

Kids

Lighting my Loi Krathrong and making a wish