While I was working away from family and in a job I wasn’t particularly enjoying, I was having a difficult time finding joy. Every day and without realising, I would focus on the small negative things in my life that ultimately amounted to a bad day.

I have a friend who I always admired for her positive attitude and outlook to everything, and one day after asking her how she does it, she suggested I search for three things every day that make me smile. It can be as small as that first sip of tea in a morning.

I remember thinking she was crazy, and that that would never help me. But I thought I would give it a go. So I opened up the notes app on my phone the next day, and spent 20 minutes thinking about one good thing in my day. It really took me that long.

My first list I wrote was:

1. The first bite of my Rye Bread & Eggs for breakfast

2. Trying a new Ryvita

3. Solving a problem at work.

I can’t say I still have the same love for Rye that I clearly did back then, but that was the start of a seven year habit.

I wrote a note on my phone everyday of three small things that made me smile, and what I learnt was unexpected. I would look back through the notes I’d made each day, and realised that the way I felt about that time in my life changed from negative to positive! I stopped focusing on the negative things and I began remembering things like the delicious the Malteser cake a colleague made one day, belly laughing with my friends over lunch, and the great advice that one my inspirational mentors gave me. I learnt that once you search for small things that make you smile, they become the things you remember. I was truly shocked by the difference this one thing made and how quickly you can forget the small, joyful things in life, and I would encourage everyone gives it a go!