As I was creating the Your Way Recovery course, I returned to the beauty of some of the early class structures I used. One of them was this opportunity to abandon thoughts of our past or even our present limitations, to focus on where we are going or what we might become. Those classes evolved to be much of what I teach in my advanced courses today.

Still, I was inspired to return to the practice as an opportunity for this group to connect, to be with each other throughout the day during moments of success or inspiration. So, I offer it to you here.

Below, I have listed three contemplative practices. I invite you to use this format to share with the group, through entering your Success Stories, Possibility Processes, and New Things you’ll try in the comments section. What you write will only be available to the people in the Advanced Practices group. It’s an opportunity to connect on the little things throughout the week that weave that common thread of expansion, those pearls you might want to caste before jewelers. However, this is the internet. Therefore, if there is anything you want to share that feels vulnerable, you can still wait to extend your sharing during the live sessions. This isn’t mandatory. It’s just another way to connect within the group.

Your prompts for sharing are:

Today’s Success Story

One of the most powerful tools for shifting consciousness is confirmation. We naturally want to “prove ourselves right.” This desire to already know is a healthy function of survival. By recording positive successes, our dopaminergic pathways shift to seek out healthier solutions organically.

When writing success stories, all focus should be solution-based or on the new life unfolding. What is working in your life? What great thing happened or what is possible for you now that might not have been possible before?

Even if it is a small thing or an unexpected thing, what is something you have accomplished that you would like to share with the group?

Today’s Possibility Process

Possibility processes are moments where we reach into the potential of what might become. I also see them as moments when we have accepted a new possibility into our lives, by learning something new or gaining a new perspective on something we thought we knew.

What did you discover or what new thing is possible in your life today?

One New Thing I will try today

Any goal you accomplish today will become Tomorrow’s Success Story. Making a commitment and following through is critical to maintaining healthy consciousness. Doing this exercise daily gives you repeated opportunities to make and keep promises to yourself. This builds faith in your confidence and ability to succeed.

When setting goals for the day, it is helpful not to make them too lofty. If you have a big project to complete, think of one thing you can do today toward the big project, rather than trying to do the whole thing at once. Dopamine is a self-motivating chemical. It is more important to measure small successes than it is to shoot for the stars. The more dopamine you drive, the more motivated you’ll be to accomplish those big goals that might have been difficult in the past. If the small goal prompts you to accomplish the bigger goal great, but if you run out of time, recognizing the small goal will still drive the same dopamine levels in the brain.

If you don’t have a specific goal you are striving to achieve, another question you might ask yourself is, “What new thing will I try today that I haven’t tried before?”