Discovering the Magic

By Bob Cox

While I like to think of myself as a genuinely optimistic person, I do have my moments where dark clouds of despair sweep over me like a London fog. Fortunately, I’m usually able to get back on a positive track quickly, thanks to the help of my wise and wonderful wife Diana. She’s not a pity party planner for people who wallow in misery, so I’m grateful for her direct, no nonsense approach to proactive problem solving.

Recently; however, I experienced a setback that really rocked my world and sent me down the rabbit hole of negative thinking. I caught a nasty flu that had been going around and it literally knocked me off my feet. For over three weeks, I experienced coughing so relentless and extreme, it threw my back out. Every time I coughed, which was around 10 times a minute, the pain in my back flared up and was so extreme, I thought I would pass out. If that wasn’t depressing enough, Diana, who’s been dealing with a variety of serious health issues, also got violently ill.

Every day felt like we were being held hostage in our reclining chairs, coughing and sleeping. Because we both are business owners; each day of work missed meant one more day of lost income. I was feeling more and more hopeless as each day drug on while the financial pressure rapidly intensified.

During a brief moment of clarity, Diana suggested that I go and see the doctor. I felt like saying I’m too sick and depressed to go, but I realized she was right and after my visit, I received three prescriptions that I was confident would help me recover.

I also decided to take another prescription, not from my doctor but from motivational speaker Brian Tracy and get back to reading something positive every morning, no matter how bad I felt. I had recently purchased a book that I thought Diana and I would both enjoy titled The Magic and after each daily session, I began to feel better, stronger and healthier.

The book was written a few years ago by Rhonda Byrne and it’s much more than a book you simply read. After each short chapter, the author encourages her readers to perform a variety of tasks that focus on the miraculous power of gratitude. Of all the exercises she recommends, the one that really helped me regain my sanity and positive outlook was the daily task of journaling ten things I was grateful for and why.

As I wrote down each thing I was grateful for and why, two amazing things happened simultaneously. I was getting a break from all the negative thoughts and then replacing them with genuinely positive memories. Each day I’ve taken the time to write down ten things I’m grateful for has become a little more challenging because I have to dig a little deeper in my memory bank to find those positive experiences.

The challenge of coming up with ten more things each day to be grateful for has been very good medicine for me. The positive improvements I’ve had in my overall outlook on life have been powerful and profound. I feel much lighter and happier overall at home and at work. I’m also able to think more clearly and my listening skills are much sharper. Thanks to the magic of consistently journaling, feeling and expressing gratitude, I’m more enthusiastic about the future than ever and that is something to be truly grateful for!