Anyone who knows me is aware that cold weather is not my favorite. I‘m a sunshine loving, beach going, hot yoga (emphasis on hot) practicing gal. Years ago, when I worked in education, one of my favorite parts of the day was greeting the children outside in the morning and welcoming them to school. Of course, this meant standing outside, for the better part of an hour, in all kinds of weather, including the bitter cold. I’d wake up on those chilly mornings feeling less than enthusiastic and frankly a little grumpy. Then, I read an article about scientists who worked in the arctic, and just how many calories they had to consume in a day to keep their body temperatures normalized. Apparently, the human body burns more calories in the cold! This was life-changing! Or at least, it was what I call frame-shifting.

After this revelation, every time I went outside in the cold to greet the children, or hike with my girlfriends, or even grocery shop, I thought, well, this calorie burning effort has surely earned me an extra cocktail. Frame-shift!

My example may be somewhat silly, but I’ve applied this idea to other things in my life, and it really does work. Not all the time, and not for all of life’s unpleasantries of course, but enough that I try to regularly employ it when I need an attitude adjustment.

“Positive thinking is more than just a tagline. It changes the way we behave. And I firmly believe that when I am positive, it not only makes me better, but it also makes those around me better.” — Harvey Mackay

In other news…

I’ll be at Richmond Galaxy Con with the Bard’s Tower crew signing books all weekend. If you’re in the area, come say hello!