February Recap

February didn't go as smoothly as January because of a trip to DHMC and a visit from a nasty stomach bug, but I'm going strong with my goals and Charlie's doing well with trying new foods. We had broccoli several times and he just pops it in his mouth!

To start, my goals were as follows:
-Meditate for 20 minutes every day
-Exercise for 30 minutes every day
-Drink at least 2 Nalgene bottles (roughly 10 glasses of water) every day
-Eat at least 5 servings of fruits and veggies every day (still one of the harder goals)

I've also added two smaller goals:
-Write down 3 things I am grateful for every day
-Write down 1 positive event from the last 24 hours

I attended the Second Sunday Sit at my yoga studio at the beginning of the month and my instructor mentioned a video she had recently seen about training your brain to be more positive. She later emailed us a link to the video (which is pretty funny). The speaker, Shawn Achor, believes there are five ways to train your brain to be more positive: write down three things you are grateful for daily, journal about one positive experience in the past 24 hours, exercise, meditate and perform a random act of kindness (he suggests sending off a quick email praising or thanking someone in your social network).

Exercise (which I can never spell correctly - I always use a z) and meditation are already a part of my daily routine. Keeping a gratitude journal is something I've seen pop up several times in the past year so I decided to make use of one of the old journals I had tucked away in my desk drawer. I've missed a few days, but I'm really enjoying reviewing my day by writing down three things I'm grateful for and one positive event from that day. I do it after I meditate and it takes less than five minutes out of my day. Although my journal is pretty short right now, it's been fun to look back at other days and see what I've written. I'm looking forward to seeing it at the end of the year.

I completed 7 books in February which puts my total at 12 so far this year.

February
Stacy Hawkins Adams - The Someday List (Mommy Bookclub pick) (not a fan)
Laurie Halse Anderson - Speak
Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale
Tatiana de Rosnay - A Secret Kept
Darien Gee - Friendship Bread (Library Bookclub pick) (fun fluffy read)
Jodi Picoult - Change of Heart
Alexandra Ripley - Scarlett (loved it)