When I say that I'm pro warm fuzzies, I mean that I'm for incorporating them as the normal response to the many smaller times we feel esteem for others. For years now, I've incorporated the idea of sharing three good things each day with my best bud (a practice mentioned here). It's on the rough days that it's especially valuable to pick out those positive moments and acknowledge them as important. It's so much easier to notice the problems, what's not working, and focus on the smaller negatives. Those things are important too as, of course, ignoring reality isn't good for anyone. But, I think those small positives are equally important and they often get passed by as something that isn't a squeaky wheel, it just works, not worthy of attention. I think that's an error in giving more weight to the negatives and missing the joy of the present good. Again, I'm talking about the small stuff, but that small stuff is most of life and it's worth celebrating.
I recently started a thread on a favorite parenting group about acknowledging the parenting strengths we see in other members. I spent several hours thinking about the particular awesomeness of the parents (or caregivers) that I had seen nurturing kids. It was a delightful few hours for me and it spread warm fuzzies for the whole group. I'm also considering adding to my GTD weekly review a to-do action to check for acknowledgements that I can give (dentist, gardener, librarian, waitress... did someone do something well this week that I could acknowledge and make both their and my world better). So, this is a short post, but it's a vote for taking the time to focus on warm fuzzies every day. Whether it's a few minutes over coffee to catch one positive and send an email or a daily three-good-things or something else, focusing on the joy in life makes for greater personal happiness and smooths a consistent flow of warm fuzzies... that's something I find worth practicing! :)
