Making the Most of Each Day - The Affirmation Spot for Tuesday July 28, 2009

(Originally posted January 2, 2008)Today's affirmation is:"I make each day a unique and special time in my life."Our lives are about more than our jobs, our roles, our tasks, and our responsibilities. Each day of our existence has some unique place in the tapestry that makes up our lives. If we're not careful, we may just miss the meaning.It's easy for days to slip by in our lives without us taking notice. Giving each day a special meaning is one way to keep that from happening.Over the years, I've used a number of strategies to add meaning to each day. My favorite is to assign a positive attribute to each day of the week. This is not necessarily a novel idea. In the western world, the days of the week are generally named for the known celestial bodies and the god associated with that object.In English Sunday is Sun-day. Monday is Moon-day. In French, Mardi (Tuesday) is Mars-day, Mercredi (Wednesday) is Mercury-day, and Jeudi (Thursday) is a translation of the Latin Jovis (Jupiter) or Jupiter-day. Saturday in English, obviously, is Saturn's Day.You can do something similar to add meaning to each day of your week. Try associating a positive emotion, attribute, or thought for each day. As the week's cycle through, you will find that you look forward to focusing on the meaning of each day. The theme for each day becomes your own private meditation for the day.You can associate anything you want with each day. The goal is to embody or focus on that attribute as you go through the day. The concepts should resonate with you and your life, but here is an example to give you some ideas.

1. Sunday - theme your Sundays as "rebirth". Since Sunday is generally viewed as the first day of the week it makes sense to use it to focus on something like rebirth. It is wonderful to have the opportunity start fresh every so often. Once a week is perfect.
2. Monday - try theming Mondays as "happiness". Monday is a depressing day for many people because it is the first day of the work week. Try countering the negative connotation by focusing on happiness all day.
3. Tuesday - try theming Tuesdays as "peace." Tuesday as the second day of the week.
4. Wednesday - try theming Wednesdays as "overcoming". Wednesday is often viewed as the middle of week - "hump day". Capitalize on that idea by focusing on overcoming obstacles and challenges on Wednesday.
5. Thursday - try theming Thursday as "faith" or "belief". You may focus on your religious and spiritual beliefs or belief in your abilities or your future. Giving one day a week to this topic keeps you grounded in what is important to you.
6. Friday - try theming Friday as "development". We always need to be moving ahead in our lives. Having one day a week where we focus on our development can help.
7. Saturday - try theming Saturday as "completion". Since Saturday is the last day of the week it is ideal for highlighting the idea of finishing tasks or bringing aspects of our life to completion.

Other possible themes include hope, forgivness, relaxation, joy, frugality, learning, or love. The possibilities are endless and limited only by your imagination.Coincidentally, there are seven days of the week and seven colors in the rainbow. You might also try associating a color with each day/positive emotion to create additional significance.Create calendars (regular or cyclical) that detail your themed days of the week. As the weeks pass, you begin to look forward to your "day of peace" on Sunday or your "day of take it slow" on Saturday. Try writing a more detailed descriptions of what each day means to you and how it contributes to your life.Be creative and have fun with it. Maybe you make every Monday "laughing day". You learn to laugh at yourself and others for taking life so seriously.Most importantly, you will add significance to each grain of sand slipping through your 2008 hour glass. By the end of the year, you may find your life has more meaning.Happy New Year. Thank you to each and every one of you who reads this blog, downloads affirmations, or takes a moment to write a kind word about what we are trying to accomplish at The Affirmation Spot.Be peaceful Be prosperous.Ray2009 Affirmation"This year I am absolutely committed to being the person I came here to be!"