Are you being too hard on yourself? Do you feel buried under a mountain of proverbial work only you’ll be disappointed if it doesn’t get done? How about combining these two into a supercell storm of self-doubt, anger, frustration and sadness?

Well, I’ve been there too (of course if you haven’t then good please don’t ever tread in this space its dangerous to your mental health and your attitude). If you are there or on the edge, I would like to help you out of this place. Because negative thoughts are the downfall of any good time and they kill our creative vibes.

You should be focused only on the good in your life. This year has been…well you know. And I know I’ve spoken about gratitude before and while this won’t be the same it also might not seem much different. Lets try a little exercise together (or apart cause you know social distancing) together lets start making some positive changes to our day. I wonder how many at once is too many?

Lets make a little list for reference. I’d suggest writing it down or memorizing it and telling yourself each day to do these things.

1. Wake up and smile! I mean you’ve been given another beautiful day on this planet with people who you have influence over whether or not you know it. So, lets start being happier about each extra day we get.

2. Replace your bad attitude or anyone else’s in your vicinity with gratitude. Change the direction of a negative conversation and watch how quickly you can change someone else’s negative attitude. I guess that’s why they say disarm them with a smile right?

3. Stop, flat out stop letting things bother you in which you have no control. I wish I could tell you, waking up late today, running out of milk and finding out your car has a borderline flat tire and a dead battery are all the start of a perfect day. But in reality you know these things suck especially when compounded one after the other. There is good news, it really is all in your mind. Just because you have a bad start doesn’t mean you have to have a bad day.

I used to think that every other bad thing would add to my bad days. Oh no now my pen has no ink this is all because I woke up late today, gosh the universe hates me. Realistically I know these things are all just regular everyday things that just happen to have happened back to back making me further agitated by each one. You could also play devils advocate and tell me each one of these are easily prevented by proper planning. True. But it doesn’t feel this way when they domino effect. Take a deep breath and tackle them one thing at a time.

4. Last but not least, every morning (may I suggest whilst you are smiling) tell yourself “I’m going to be surprised at what I accomplish today”. This last one has made the most difference in my life lately. I’ve just been so much more positive and appreciative of what I did accomplish at the end of the day, rather than dreading all of the work I could have done if I hadn’t wasted time or gotten lost in thought thinking about what still needs to be done. This only compounds and makes me waste more time and sometimes even sleep over my unfinished tasks.

I’m encouraging you to start doing any little thing that will make your day better. I suggest following these four steps but feel free to make your own, I wouldn’t replace #1 with anything. Waking up and smiling is one of the best feelings even on the nights when I don’t get enough sleep, my morning and my whole day are just so much better off for smiling. =)

The last week of inktober, I didn’t know whether or not to speed ahead and post the final ones this week or not. So I didn’t, I’ll just hold off until next week to give you the last two or three. Selfishly this makes it to where I didn’t have to do them in advance too. My personal favorite this week has to be the Swedish chef! I am rounding the final turn and on to the finish line, I can see it now. Anyone else overly excited to get 1-3 hours back each night? Yes it takes me way too long to pull one of these illustrations out of my hat.

Is it just me, or do you also see many wane from this annual art project and wonder why? Other than the fact that no one is holding anyone accountable for their art actions but themselves. I guess the rest of us wont be too disappointed if they don’t finish. But there is something soooooo satisfying about telling yourself you are going to do something and stick to it. Then again I guess gyms would be out of business if they didn’t generate most of their income in January cause of the same accountability issues.

Segueing right into the reason I started this weekly blog. To document and share my practice. This week and it has been halloweenily eerie because it has me reflecting on this month. I have connected with a few new people and each one of them happen to be a beacon of light, a real inspirational and positive person. I don’t know about you but having more than one person in your life that beams with joy is way different from what I’ve experienced. There have always just been such Debbie downers around and they just like to wallow in their self pity and try to stick you in to their smelly bog of depression with them.

This weeks practice were the words (Yes! still practicing actual words and ecstatic about it) “unites” and “mind” which are really relatable, and again kind of eerie to the fact of the ol’ saying “two minds are better than one”. After review it would appear that I am having some trouble keeping the lower portion of the minuscule d the same as the minuscule a. They are supposed to be the same, I guess I threw that to the wind this week. Other than I just don’t seem to like the number 6 either, I’ll add it to the list of things to change as I learn.

Oh! Nearly forgot, while were on the topic of practice I have finally revamped the Spencerian principles practice sheets! They are on the newly added resources page! You can either download them one principle at a time or all 7 together in a larger file. On all hallows eve I’ll be uploading the long waited for minuscules and numbers.

If you use these sheets let me know if they help you. I have yet to send them out and get any feedback so if you think they could be improved in any way please don’t hesitate to contact me. And if you’re a Instagram user tag me in your practice and I’ll throw out a shout out and see if I can offer any useful feedback to you. Wohoo!

I’ll end this post by saying: do that hard thing you don’t want to do today. And remember no one is going to care if you let yourself down but they will notice when you help them have a more positive day. Until next week, keep smiling and Happy practicing!