Happy Monday!

It’s a new week, which means it’s time for your next Monday motivation newsletter.

Read on below for some steps to a happier Monday, a short story and a roundup of positive thoughts to get your week started.

Three Steps to a Happier Monday

Each newsletter starts with three prompts to inspire gratitude and simple intention setting. Take a moment and jot down answers to these three questions. To give an example, I share my answers below.  

Step 1: What are three things I appreciated from the weekend? 

Step 2: What is one thing I can be excited about today?

Step 3: What is my intention for this week? 

GRATITUDE: I’m thankful for an energizing Saturday, the friends I saw, and time spent outside. 

TODAY: Today, I’m most excited for my run outside this morning. 

INTENTION: My intention this week is to write out my to-do list in advance of the next day. 

Okay, your turn! And if you want to share your three steps, I am all ears. 🙂

Meaningful Musings: “Doing” Positivity 

Quick Programming Note: This section of MMM is on reruns this week and next as I get through a busy stretch with work. Back soon with new thoughts, but until then, sharing something from a previous newsletter that I needed this morning. Hope you enjoy. 🙂 

The below essay originally appeared in the Monday morning newsletter on 7/19/21.

Sometimes, the thought of having to add anything else to a Monday to-do list feels overwhelming. There’s already too many things! But if you’ve been feeling like your Monday is in need of some more yay and a little less nay, then I have a to-do list suggestion that may be worthwhile. 

The idea comes from a book I just recently finished reading called Your Fully Charged Life by magazine editor and writer Meaghan B Murphy. Spanning health, work, family time, and more, the book ties together anecdotes and the latest in positive psychology research to outline a series of small changes that help you find more joy in every day. 

I love books like this because I get so many easy, actionable ideas. But the most surprising and useful tip I gleaned from Murphy’s writing was her suggestion that thinking positively isn’t enough, you must also “do positivity.” 

It reminded me of something author Gretchen Rubin wrote about in her well-known book, The Happiness Project. She suggests that although we presume that we act because of the way we feel, we often feel because of the way we act. To further describe this phenomenon, she points to a quote from philosopher and psychologist William James. Over a century ago, he said, “Action seems to follow feeling, but really action and feeling go together; and by regulating the action, which is under the more direct control of the will, we can indirectly regulate the feeling, which is not.” 

We’ve all heard how it’s proven that our brains are wired to notice and remember the bad more than the good. It’s a survival mechanism and it helped keep cave-dwelling ancestors safe in a world with many physical threats. But in today’s comparatively safe world, this biological predisposition to focus on the negative can leave us feeling drained, unhappy and low.

While we can’t change our nature and we shouldn’t ignore reality or pretend things are wonderful when they’re not, knowing that our default mode is to dwell on the negative can help us see that sometimes we have to take action first to get those good vibes going. 

Take a Monday for example: it’s easy to default to autopilot, go through the motions of the day, and get trapped by our instinct to focus on the negative. OR, we could take an additional step to intentionally pepper in some simple actions that will make us feel good throughout our day. Of course, those Monday circumstances and challenges will still be there, but at least we’ll have these little hits of happiness to help soften the edges. 

What do you think? If you’re game to experiment and see if this idea works for you, start by asking yourself how you want to feel today. Pick one feeling and then think about one small action that you could reasonably add to your to-do list today that’s in line with that feeling.

For example, if you’re wishing you felt more energized, maybe take a quick walk outside with music, wear your favorite color, or call a friend. If you want to feel more relaxed, you might read a few pages from a new book, schedule a 15-minute power nap, or treat yourself to a manicure after work. And if you want to feel more organized, maybe you’ll clear out one drawer or shelf, clean out an email inbox, or take out the trash & wipe down counters. I know for me, one of my go-to strategies for cultivating a more enjoyable Monday is finding one thing to be excited about (see question #2 in the section above each week!). I love doing this because despite whatever else happens during my Monday, I anticipate this one experience, enjoy it when it happens, and remember it when I reflect on my day.

It’s sometimes comical how small the thing I’m “excited” about is, but having something enjoyable to look forward to really does boost my mood. And I think it could do the same for you!

So, why not give this idea a try today and see if “doing positivity” (or whatever feeling you’re after!) helps you have a more enjoyable Monday. And if you try it out, I would love to hear about it! 

On My Monday Radar

Sometimes we just aren’t ready to jump into our Monday to-do list right away. In case you want some content to procrastinate with, here is a roundup of a few positive things on my radar:   

• Someone else’s enthusiasm is a powerful teacher. Loved this short podcast reflection on how one of the most powerful things we can do is to share our enthusiasm. Isn’t it so fun (and moving!) to listen to someone talk about something they are enthusiastic about? 
• Loved this article about the “six forces that fuel friendship.” After interviewing more than 100 friends over the course of three years, this reporter breaks down the six things she thinks help form friendships and maintain them through the years. Love all of them, but especially “ritual” and “grace.”
• We get a new Elin Hilderbrand book this week!! Hotel Nantucket – Hilderbrand’s 28th book – is available starting tomorrow. Many crown Hilderbrand as the “undisputed queen of the beach reads,” and as a reader of almost all of her 28 books, I concur. While her books may be dubbed “beach reads,” I think her books are actually quite brilliant with how they capture human nature. Whenever I’m in a reading rut, I reach for one of her books because I know I’ll be instantly captivated and motivated to read it. Excited to have this new title to add to my summer TBR (“to be read”) list! 
• Another book set to release this summer that I am counting down the days for? Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Carrie Soto Is Back, out on Aug. 30. Eek!! Can’t believe we get a new Elin Hilderbrand AND TJR book this year. Something I love about both of these authors is that all their books are standalone titles (aka you don’t need to read in a certain order), BUT there is an overlap of characters. So fun! Carrie Soto was a minor character in TJR’s Malibu Rising book that came out last year (like how one of the main characters in Malibu Rising was a minor character in Evelyn Hugo!). So, if you are looking for a book to read, check out Malibu Rising now and then read this new one when it comes out in August!

That’s all for today! I hope you found something in today’s newsletter that sparked motivation, made you smile or inspired a positive Monday thought. Don’t underestimate the power of starting small… a fulfilling week starts with just one fulfilling day. You’ve got this! 

Let’s make it a great Monday!
Megan