It’s pretty hard to feel positively when you can’t see past your whirlwind of thought. In order to generate your own personal positive news, slowing down your inner chatter is needed. It is then you can make substantial changes and feel genuinely more positive…and calm!

Here are some quick pointers so you can quiet your mind and let some sunshine in: 

1. Remember that the key is not to clamp down on your mind or to do battle with your thoughts. Treat your mind gently, as though you are calming an upset child.
2. Close your eyes and take three deep breaths — comfortably deep breaths, not as though you’re trying to take in enough air to swim underwater for the length of a pool. Silently count the breaths as you exhale.

3. For the next three breaths, think to yourself (as you inhale), “For this life” — (and as you exhale) — “thank you, God.” If you have trouble with the God idea, feel free to secularize. Instead of, “thank you, God,” try simply, “I am grateful.”

4. For the next three breaths, think to yourself (as you inhale), “For this day” — (and as you exhale) — “thank you, God,” or “I am grateful.”

5. For the next three breaths, think to yourself (as you inhale), “For this hour” — (and as you exhale) — “thank you, God,” or “I am grateful.”

6. For the following three breaths, think to yourself (as you inhale), “For this moment” — (and as you exhale) — “thank you, God,” or “I am grateful.”

7. And for three more breaths, think to yourself (as you inhale), “For this breath” — (and as you exhale) — “thank you, God,” or “I am grateful.”

8. And for the final three breaths, think nothing. Relax and merely enjoy the feel of your breath as it enters, and as it exits, as it arrives, and as it departs.

9. Enjoy a moment of peace.