by Olivia Cohen
You may have heard the saying, “What consumes your mind, controls your life.”
When you are feeling down, it’s easy to look at the big picture and say “everything’s going wrong,” rather than focusing on what’s going right. Maybe you spilled on your shirt, forgot to show up to a meeting, or received a bad grade. You have two ways to look at this scenario: chalk it up to a horrible day or turn your mindset around with positivity. How do you go about this? Start paying attention to the small details of your day. Celebrating the tiny, happy moments in life is the key to controlling your mindset.
The 1 Second Everyday app is a great tool for kickstarting this attitude shift. This journaling app provides users with a platform to reflect on their day-to-day routine and habits. On the 1 Second Everyday app, you record clips of your day, which get stored on your virtual calendar. Any time you want to, you can compile (“mash”) these moments to watch a montage of your day-to-day life.
So how do you shift your mindset? You can go back to your 1SE video and watch some clips from your journal. Maybe you recorded the pretty plant in your home or a fantastic dinner you ate with a friend. Use that clip as a segue to recall the good things that happened to you. Before you know it, maybe it won’t seem like today was all that bad.
Here’s another thing you can do: record yourself saying one word or phrase that made you feel joy that day. Recent studies have found that cultivating a regular practice of gratitude can have both mental and physical health benefits. Maybe your word one day could be “my cat,” or the next day could be “gardening.” Alternatively, you can commit to filming a different detail of your life every day that makes you happy. Before you know it, you will have a month’s worth of positive moments. What should you do with this collection of memories? You can keep the mash for personal reflection, share it with friends and family, or even post it online as a pick-me-up for your social media network.
Paying attention to the little things over time will enforce the habit of gratitude. Completely changing your outlook on life is a slow and difficult process, so making the effort to notice small details is a key to creating a mindset of gratitude. Just like training for a sport, practicing gratitude everyday is a great way for this mindset shift to become second nature.
The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in the details of daily life.
Editor’s note: this is part of a series of stories, ideas, and thoughts from 1 Second Everyday’s brand ambassador team, which we call The Un1t. To learn more about the team, go here.
