As many of you know, my husband and I follow the "Ask, Believe, Receive" principle.  We learned it from the book The Secret, but have tweaked it to work best for us and our beliefs.  I truly believe it works, but whether or not it actually does is not the point..  The important thing is that I believe it does, and because of this I'm happier.  I choose to be happy and believe good things are happening to me.  You can be cynical and say this is naive or foolish or whatever, but I don't really care what you think.  Too many people are looking and wishing for happiness instead of just deciding to be happy.  When you stop wishing, and just decide to be happy; when you stop cataloging all the things that are wrong with your life and instead feel gratitude for all that is right, you'll quickly realize you have been blessed beyond your imagination.  Happiness isn't a wish; it's a choice.

Now, I'm not perfect at this.  I'm human.  And every so many months I feel the weight of my own stress and negativity start to weigh me down.  When that happens, I force myself to set everything aside for an hour or two and sit down to refocus myself.  I remind myself how incredibly blessed I am.  And the best way for me to do that is to thank God for all of the blessings in my life - things as big as my health and my publishing contract, and as small as chocolate, daisies and cute boots.  I list off the blessings I'm grateful he's given my husband, my parents, my siblings, my in-laws, my friends, my country, even the world.  When you stop and make yourself think about all the good in the world, it's amazing how long of a list you can come up with.  It's infinite really. 

Then I begin to make a list, starting with the three things I want to focus most on.  These are emotions or actions that I want to color my thoughts and interactions.  The first two are almost always love and gratitude, but the third will often shift with what is currently going on in my life.  Right now it's "protect the muse", which basically means that I'm reminding myself to do whatever I need to to be able to write, whether that be turning the ringer off on my phone, ignoring articles or people who hurt my self confidence, or a number of other things.  

My next step is to write out the things I want - the items or events or emotions I am asking for.  These will range from things that seem very small to things that seem almost impossible.  Like, "I want to be healthy, and enjoy being healthy."  Or, "I want to make the NY Times Bestseller List."  They can also be about others - "I want all of my friends, and family, and Pita (my cat) to be happy, healthy, and fulfilled."  The things you want for others can be harder to attain, because they must want them, too, but that doesn't mean you can't ask for them.  Sometimes the things you are asking for are also things they're asking for, and your requests only bolster their own. 

Once I have made my requests, I change these statements into past tense.  This takes me from the "Ask" step into the "Believe" step.  "I AM healthy and enjoy being healthy."  "I MADE the NY Times Bestseller List."  I thank God for these blessings and repeat these past tense thoughts to myself periodically, bolstering my belief so that I am in the mindset to receive them.  Sometimes they come quickly, and sometimes they take a little longer to arrive, but they are always in the process of reaching me.  My asking and believing and gratitude have begun the journey, and as long as I continue to believe, the journey is never over until they reach me. 

Once I've completed these steps I always feel refocused and recharged.  My smile is brighter and my energy refreshed.  I feel ready to take on the world, and to help others embrace it just as fully. 

What do you do to refocus?  Do you follow any guiding principle, like "Ask, Believe, Receive"?