craschworks

A Minute a Day Makes Good Feelings Grow

Fine, I thought. I’ve used one-minute timings with children for reading and math for nine years now. If it works for them, I’m willing to try anything no matter how crazy it sounds. I’ve been to the Lands of Crazy and Depression and, while it’s fuel for writing, I didn’t like it in either place. What’s the worst that could happen? It wouldn’t work. But it was worth a try for two weeks. Each morning for the next two weeks I wrote for one minute as many self-positives as I could, anything I could think, remember, had been previously told, whether or not I felt it during that minute.

Bingo! For the next two weeks, my good feelings ranged from seven a day to forty and the bad feelings dropped from a high of seven on the first day to a low of zero – staying between zero and two. The negative thoughts went from 75 the first day to three! Happy birthday, Robert! I shall stop looking for reasons to argue, stop trying to sabotage my marriage.