Start #1: Gifts 212...

212. Recognizing growth in myself!  I had a tough day yesterday and started to get discouraged at the turn my thoughts were taking.  In the later afternoon, I recognized what was happening.  So, I switched from getting discouraged to reminding myself that I have made lots of progress, to then allowing myself to feel what I needed to feel at that moment knowing that it would only be a moment or two rather than the days and weeks of a negative, spiraling funk that used to ensue.  I put my tools in action.

213. Driving to work this morning reflecting on the realization above, hearing my dad's voice whisper in my mind, "The sun will always rise." And there it was, waking up over the horizon, reflecting its bright, yellow light off the downtown buildings that I have a clear shot of on the overpass every morning.  It's a brand new day.

214. Practicing what I preach. I added an article from the Environmental Working Group's (EWG) website to our employee paycheck newsletter last week.  The article, Jane's Holiday Kitchen, talked about using plastics safely (and more), such as not heating plastic leftover containers in the microwave to avoid the leaching of toxic chemicals into the food we eat.  Since I read and posted that article, I have stopped myself three days in a row at work from pressing "start" on the microwave at lunch.  I remembered the article, and pull my "microwave safe" container (safe for microwaves, but not safe for humans!) out and empty the contents onto a plate to reheat from there.  Small changes, little by little

215. Having a health/nutrition/fitness expert at my fingertips - thank you Mindy for the advice on protein today!

216. Working as a team on our financial future (for the first time ever) - Thank You Andy!