Fresh Starts

Studies show that most people start to make changes in their lives when they perceive a fresh start. Fresh starts can be anything that you perceive as a fresh start: a birthday, new year, new week, new month, new job, etc. Usually it involves something that we perceive as new. And these fresh starts are motivating, they get us to try to change something in our lives that we want to improve.

A new month is fast approaching which can provide you with a new fresh start, a new opportunity to improve. And I've recently heard about a technique that can be used to help you with whatever new habit you might want to try to adopt, it's called temptation bundling.

Temptation bundling is combining two things to help motivate you to stick to your new habit. For example, say that you love watching TV but you feel guilty about how much you watch and you are having a hard time exercising. You would simply combine these two activities into a temptation bundle by only allowing yourself to watch that new episode you're dying to watch if you are on a treadmill or an elliptical. This way you get to watch TV guilt-free plus you feel good about exercising.

Another temptation bundle example: only eating your favorite ice cream when your spouse and you sit down to go over the budget. You get to allow yourself a fun treat and it entices you to plan out your finances (which will enable you to have more money to buy more ice cream).

One more: You can't wait to read the latest Hunger Games novel but feel guilty hiding from your children every evening. Also, you want to try to be more active during your long work day. Bundle the two and allow yourself to listen to the novel while you take a walk during your lunch break.

So as we quickly move to a new month, take advantage of these little tips and tricks to change your behavior and enable yourself to get the best out of life. We are always happiest when we are growing and improving, so take advantage of a new-month fresh start in May and increase your happiness.

Book Review: The Silver Linings Playbook

My Goodreads group challenged us to read The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick in March so I decided to see what all the fuss was about. I actually really enjoyed this book for several reasons:

1. It was about a guy who is always looking for the silver lining. Always looking for something positive in every situation. Definitely a guy that I'd like.
2. It has a lot of football talk in it. I love football and am one of the few girls that I know that knows more about the local team than 90% of the guys I talk to. I really enjoy watching it and reading up on my favorite players. I'm constantly psyched for the start of every season and always think that this could be the year. So I totally loved that part of the book and understood how their family were only able to gel around that one thing in their lives.
3. It has a lot of physical fitness, exercising, running, dancing, etc. in the book. I love all of those things. I've never worn a sweat suit to bed, and am never going to, but I love the big part that physical activity played in the book.
4. It was a quick read that kept me interested.
5. I was rooting for the main character. This was most of the reason that I was glued to the book. I just had to see if Pat would get his silver lining. I wanted to see if things would turn out well for him in the end, and I really, really wanted them to.

There is a lot of strong language in the book that I didn't really appreciate reading, but the strong language plays true to the psychiatry of Tiffany's character. It would have been artificial to leave it out.

Overall it was a fun read. It lets you delve into the mind of a simplistic guy that's just trying to get things right even though things keep getting screwed up. It made me think about my own life and caused me to look for more silver linings. And I always love a book that inspires me to improve.