This week is my 200th Weekly Dose of Mental Sunshine
A milestone I’m really proud of.
Around 4 years ago, I started sending out a weekly email with the aim of bringing a little “mental sunshine” into people’s days
Spreading a little joy and making the world a little brighter.
And also finding tips to help with my own mental health.
Mental sunshine is about being in a state of peace, poise and harmony.
It’s a term I first read in a book I absolutely love called Thinking for Results but Christian D Larson.
Larson also wrote The Optimist’s Creed, a poem I read on a regular basis.
Thinking for Results was originally published in 1911 – and it’s only 128 pages so it’s a very quick and easy read.
There’s a passage from the book that really struck me:
No mental growth can take place without mental sunshine. Accordingly, we should resolve to be happy no matter what may transpire. We cannot afford to be otherwise. Sunshine will melt the most massive iceberg if the rays are direct and the clouds are kept away; and it is the same in daily life. No matter how cold, disagreeable and uncongenial your present environment may be, plenty of mental sunshine can change it all.
I know that it can sound a bit simplistic to say that you should just decide to be happy and then everything will be fine.
On the other hand though, I have found that making a conscious effort to have a more positive mental attitude has helped me in my life.
I started sending out these emails because I wanted to share that – to give you something to help bring some mental sunshine into your life.
After all – one of the things I often say in these emails is that a great way of bringing mental sunshine into your own life… is to spread some joy into someone else’s day.
It can often feel like the world is an absolute mess and there’s no hope.
Listen to any daily news bulletin, and you’re bombarded by misery, war, destruction, the threat of imminent apocalypse.
It’s hard to maintain a cheerful disposition in the face of all that – but I have found time and again that if I practice finding a point of mental sunshine in my day, life feels better.
It’s about a daily practice of finding something to smile about.
Some days that’s really difficult; other days it’s a bit easier.
The trick is to do it every day.
Especially on the days when it feels really difficult!
I love sending out this email every week, with the thought that I might brighten your day just a little.
Whenever someone emails to tell me they’ve tried something I’ve suggested, my mental sunshine becomes a little brighter.
And now, after 200 emails, my website has a hefty archive of mental sunshine tips for brightening your day.
If you’ve been reading for a while, I’d love to know: which has been your favourite tip so far?
Which ones have you tried that worked?
Is there anything that you’ve implemented into your regular routine?