There is Always One Good Thing
There are many ways to sustain and increase your CogMo, and one way to do that is a gratitude list. The most simple and consistent of all gratitude lists is the one good thing list or habit. The way I do this is through the use of my Penzu Journal. Each day in my entry, I make sure the last sentence or section, if it is multiple sentences, is an expression I call, “OGT.” One Good Thing is a great way to set the end of the the day with a blessing or if you are like me and you journal the following morning, start the day right.
Not a very positive message I know, haha, but in the end my day started with remembering the one good thing. I feel such a compelling need to be real, not only with anyone who reads this but more importantly with myself. I am writing about this one good thing because right now I am clinging to it every day. It sustains me, it is my connection to God and all that is good. It is how he reminds me that I am good and strong and able to take on all adversities, while remaining grateful that I am so so blessed in life.
It is true, this post. It is my life and although it seems depressing, it is not. Admission of failure is a good thing if you realize what it is and learn from it. Believe me I have failed way more than this. But if you notice, through the failure, I acknowledge that it was always conquered by the abundant blessings in my life. Fear surrounds me now, it is knocking so loudly at my door but every day I get up and God gives me the power to write, to create, to work, to love. That is the constant OGT in my life every day and I am blessed to recognize it.
It is a Way to Say, "One Step at a Time"
I have tried to take short cuts so many times in my life. I still find myself doing it, when the joy and triumph is always in each step of that very journey. Each effort, each failure, each success. OGT allows us to take a step forward in that journey. It is the one thing we cannot fail. We cannot go wrong with counting a blessing or two each day. OGT is real, it happened to us and so we record it. Even if it is just surviving the day, because I don't care who you are, believer or atheist, you have felt the blessing of just surviving the day.
Sometimes it is a grand achievement and sometimes it is a fortuitous folly that lands in your favor, but it is always reality. I am all for affirmations but this is not that and so it can gives us a roadmap to better things, if we remember them each day and build on them, creating our Cognitive Momentum.
...But what if nothing good happened to me?
That sounds like a you problem to me. So the only way we don't find a good thing that happened to us each day is to let despair so infiltrate our lives so profoundly, that we can't step outside of our own pity and self-absorbed experience to proclaim even the slightest of blessings.
However, I am not here to bash haha, but to give examples of how to combat challenges that may arise. This one is simple. Have a powerful go-to. Mine is simple, I didn't drink today, or spoke with God and he said chill brah, I got this.
This works in a pinch but if you find it being your OGT for several days in a row it is time to make a little bit of an effort. I will include my sobriety and my relationship with God in most OGT entries but it rarely is the only good thing.
The point is if you can't find OGT, you are not looking. The light of blessings are abundant throughout your day and the truth is if you can't find any, it is because you are not paying attention, not because they are not present.
Remember Your God Shots
The easiest way to not recall one good thing is to walk through your day oblivious to them when they happen. Be prepared and even expect, “God Shots” throughout the day. They are all around you even when you are by yourself. Write them down or make a mental not when they happen. The more you do this each day the better your days will get it is inevitable. This is the power of focus. This is how you turn your day around and pretty soon will have to maybe leave a few good things out you will have so many.
So Just Remember One Good Thing
This is so simple even a caveman can do it. However, it is not easy. Staying consistent is the toughest part, but it is only a matter of creating a habit and that only takes about a month. Don't miss for 30 days and you will have a treasure for life.
There are so many steps we can take to chose to see the good, the righteous and the positive. In spite of stuff that happens, it is only about how we react to it, pivot and turn it into something that works for us and not against us.
OGT, is a great and simple way to add a weapon to your arsenal of life's tools to develop and sustain your CogMo!
