DUE FRIDAY

Chapter 3 / Creating Success

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Support for Managing Your Emotions

Exercise: My Day Replay Looking back over our day is a great way to get insight into what did and didn’t work about our choices, and to give us a better perspective on what actually took place. For instance, we may go to bed feeling like we’ve had an awful day, but when we do a mental review of it in our minds, we may find that there were actually a number of positive points, and that we could manage at least some of the things that weren’t so good differently for a better outcome in the future. Doing this helps us to keep the difficult or unpleasant things manageable, and gives more weight to all that is good about our lives. NOTE: If possible, make copies of this exercise for future use.

Part 1: The Good Stuff You’ll want to do this exercise just before going to bed; it helps to start off doing it as a written exercise, then, if you’re comfortable, simply doing it in your head. First, mentally travel back to this morning and slowly walk through your day, looking for anything at all that felt good—whether it was a significant accomplishment or just a small happy moment. Whenever you come upon something positive, either that you did for yourself or for someone else (e.g. I handled that situation well, I volunteered at the animal shelter), write it in the It felt good that I… box. Then, in the I was glad that... box, write in anything else that gave you a good feeling over the course of your day; it can be something that came from a person or other sources (e.g. a nice conversation with a cowork- er, a beautiful sunny day).

It felt good that I… I was glad that...

Chapter 3 / Creating Success

247 Think • Build • Live Success TM | Self-Empowerment

support your choices

Copyright © 2009, Best Effect

Part 2: The Tough Stuff

This part of the exercise will help you to look at your day with constructive eyes in order to draw helpful informa- tion from any challenging experiences you had, and as a reminder that you have a good deal of control over your emotions and moods. Going back through your day, either forward, backwards or in any way that works, take note of anything that happened that you didn’t feel good about and write it out. If any of these was a situation you handled less well than you would have liked, write down how you could have handled things differently for a better outcome.

NOTE: This exercise can be done in any order. If, as you review your day, you find that the negative things stand out more, it’s best to address those first by starting with The Tough Stuff; if not, begin instead with The Good Stuff.

What I didn’t feel good about:

What, if anything, I could have done differently in that/those situation(s):

1. Name: Name
2. 1:
3. 2:
4. 3:
5. 4: