Every Friday in our CFF Community Page for members only, we celebrate “Bright Spot Friday.” Members are encouraged to share their Bright Spots from the week, and together we celebrate all the small and big wins. This started out as a measure to keep tabs on all the positive things in our days during the quarantine. It was a time where negativity tended to take the front seat, and we knew we wanted to change the mindset of our members. Since then, it’s become a staple to our Fridays.
What Are Bright Spots?
A Bright Spot can be anything that happens to you, you accomplish, or maybe something someone did for you. It’s a small bit of positivity that has come your way. Sometimes these things are small, and sometimes they are big. For others, they might seem like small achievements, but to you, it might be something really big. It doesn’t matter what it is – nutrition related, fitness related, or maybe just tending to your garden. It’s something positive, and that’s all that matters.
Why The Focus On Positivity?
When negative things happen to us, we tend to dwell on them. It’s tough to let things go or get past them. Negative experiences can take a lot of our mental energy, so it’s important to train ourselves to always find the positives. Positive thinking has all kinds of benefits:
- Increased life span
- Lower rates of depression
- Lower levels of distress
- Greater resistance to the common cold
- Better psychological and physical well-being
- Better cardiovascular health and reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease
- Better coping skills during hardships and times of stress
What seems like common sense, is actually a lot easier said than done.
How To Focus On The Positives
The easiest way to start, is to find the first Bright Spot – anything small or big, doesn’t matter. If you have been struggling to get out of bed most days, and today you did, there’s a Bright Spot. It doesn’t always need to be something exuberant like winning the lottery or hitting a new PR. Bright Spots look different to everybody.
The key though is, once you find one, it becomes easier to find another. And once you find that second one, you’ll find it’s even easier to keep going. Before you know it, you’ve got a list of 5 or 6 positive things that happened during your week.
Don’t Be Embarassed
We are all here to celebrate each other, that’s what makes us a community. If you have been silently reading through our Bright Spots and not sharing your own, we encourage you to start with just one. Our community will help make your small Bright Spot feel like a big Bright Spot. And after all, it feels great to be celebrated by others!
So let’s hear it – what’s your Bright Spot?
