One Day at a Time
by Phillip Day

I am a big fan of imagining each day as a life. Mine. It has a beginning, a middle and an end. I do the following for each new day:

I wake up (always a good idea)
I lie in bed and contemplate my day ahead
I ask: What do I wish to accomplish by bed-time tonight?
How will I feel if I succeed?
Are some of these things what I personally want?
Does the day I am planning impress the heck out of me?

Today, I will not worry about the G8 summit, a Martian invasion, suicide bombs in Baghdad, Third World hunger, an asteroid striking the earth, or what David Beckham wore to the Met Bar last night (all nocebos). Today I will leave the TV off, the newspaper in the corner store, the radio silent, and clean up my input. I can be the architect of this new day which has been given to me. I intend to raise my standards and live it well.

The Possibilities Are Endless
I will write the first page of my new book. Just one page
I will speak to one person who thinks I've forgotten them
I will practise what I am good at
I will dominate my day and carefully steer it
I will simplify, simplify, simplify
I will guard what comes out of my mouth
I will do no harm to myself or others
I will eat food that will nourish me
I will relish freedom unchained from negative input

Repetition in a state of emotion forms the attitude pattern. Every day I do this makes the following day easier. Six days of accomplishment means a whole week I lived well. So much done in one week! Negative input was out. All the positives in. I ate simple, fresh, nutritious food. I drank clean water. I breathed. I did not watch the Simpsons.

Hmmm. Breathe.

Feels good to breathe.

On the seventh day, I rest.

Play.

I break the cycle.

Every day, I agree to enjoy at least one overwhelming, optimistic experience (placebo). Each day is planned around this event. If all else fails and the Martians invade, I am still determined to enjoy this event. Today, Samantha and I will take Rosie for a walk in the forest. The dog's tail drums in anticipation. I know things about Labradors. They are not worried about their bank manager or a Sarin gas attack on the Bakerloo Line. It's about rabbits chased, sticks cracked in jaws, the swim in the pond and aroma plethora. Sheer pleasure derived from endeavour. And the dinner. The dinner. Oh, the dinner -

Where You Live
Furnish your home environment to reflect peace and optimism (placebo). Agree to make good choices. Hang pictures you adore. Play music that soothes. Have just one clock in the house.

Invite plants and flowers to participate. If you have a garden, grow things there. If I walk out and stand in ours, I gain a better perspective of my own existence. Bees bumble. Birds warble. Plants grow, live and die, and that is apparently all right with them too.

Cleve Backster, CIA scientist and inventor of the polygraph (lie-detector), spent years recording plants' reactions to humans. No fruitcake Cleve, though some of his peers were unhappy with the proof plants bond with humans, even our pain, Mr Clinton. Welcome to the fascinating world of the Unknowable. How does it work? Haven't a clue. Every day, though, a further secret is revealed if I trouble to search for it. One day I'll know. One day.

Thinks at Sunset
Did my surroundings today reflect optimism and peace? Yes.
Did I succeed in planning my day and accomplishing it? Yes!
I commanded my day and carefully steered it
I wrote the first page of my new book
I spoke to one person who believed I had forgotten them
My goals guided my actions
I practised what I was good at
I did no harm to myself or another
I had an overwhelming, optimistic experience
This was the day that was given to me, which I lived well
And the dinner. The dinner. Oh, the dinner -

Excerpted with permission from
The Little Book of Attitude by Phillip Day
Copyright © Phillip Day 2005

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