Those Darn Cosmic Forces!

The other day, my alarm clock went off at 5:30am. Now, that would have been fine if I had to get up at 5:30am as I did the day before, but on this day my first client wasn't until 9am and I could have slept in for another hour or so. Suffice it to say, the persistent beeping of the alarm at 5:30 brought my peaceful slumber to a speedy end. Ok, so I gave in and decided to get up and enjoy a leisurely morning (my favorite time of the day by-the-way.) Perhaps I would take an extra-long shower, enjoy a good novel (Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert) over a cup of the morning coffee that I love so much. I know, I'll take myself to the coffee shop and snuggle up in front of that cozy fireplace for a while. Oh yes, life is good! I actually found myself feeling a bit on the grateful side that I had neglected to turn off my alarm...an unintentional shift in my mood and state - alright!
But there was something in the air - some collection of cosmic forces - that didn't think this should be quite so easy. In the half-hour it took for me to get dressed and ready to walk out the door, any number of minor irritants persisted to convince me that I may as well get right back into bed and hit restart. Oh ya, all the classics: stubbing my toe, tripping over the dog, no clean socks, and the ever popular "where did I leave my car keys?" Alas, I decided to give into the crankiness and allow myself to revel in this discombobulated state.
On my drive to the coffeehouse, I thought about one of my clients who often talks about days like these so I decided to use this morning as a study in consciously shifting one's state. "Are you joking?" you might ask. No. Really, think about it - what a great opportunity. Here you have a life coach who is having an awful day and the sun isn't even up yet (there has to be the makings of a joke in here somewhere.) So, here's what I did:
1) named 5 people in my life who can easily make me smile
2) watched for 2 things during my drive that brought a smile to my face
3) looked for 1 thing in nature that made me feel thankful to witness
4) named 3 things on the day's schedule that I could look forward to
Wow! Instant transformation, cosmic forces be damned! This was such a fun experiment.
How do you shift your mood/state when things aren't going as planned? Give it a try, it’s fun – really. Ok, at the very least it's an interesting thing to do. Try it, then let me know what did and didn't work for you.... send us YOUR list!