Aided by a barren calendar, positivity apprentice Joe McDonald set a personal record by recording observations in 13 different hours on Sunday.
The ongoing December experiment, in which the mood-prone McDonald seeks to sustain happiness by noting his feelings at the top of each hour, had predictably progressed erratically over the first week. Aiming to nurture a habit of checking his negative emotional triggers in time to minimize their effect, a mark is scored in the journal whenever he successfully finds himself in (or brings himself to) a good mood before the new hour arrives.
"It's been an exercise, sometimes as tough as physical exercise," he said, "I caught myself brooding a bit while driving to a family reunion, but I was able to turn it around with a little reflection and a dose of singing."
To ward off darker moods, McDonald has employed tactics such as reading, stretching, playing music or games, counting blessings, visualizing success, and writing in an obscurely-known blog with a small but loyal following. Sometimes, the best action has been inaction.
"Sleep has been helpful. Actually one of the hours I missed on Sunday was because I took a catnap around 9ish while chilling out to the Naked Gun movie. Fortunately I woke up in time for the baseball scenes - they're the best!"
The same might be said for the days of December so far.
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