Three Good Things

I just returned home from spending 3 1/2 days with 20+ incredible women.  My boss nominated me for the Michigan Institute of Nursing Excellence and amazingly, I was chosen from our hospital to go.  So 20 nurses from around the state met at Crystal Mountain resort for a time of pampering and encouragement.

When I left home on Sunday afternoon, I assumed the highlight would be the spa treatment we were going to receive.  Although my facial was wonderful, the best part was meeting other nurses from all over the state of Michigan. We had a gazillion laughs, heard wonderful speakers, and learned so much from each other.

In preparation for the institute, we were asked to read the book Three Good Things by Erika Oliver.  The subtitle is "Happiness Every Day, No Matter What!".  The premise of the book is to change your perspective and focus on the good things in your life rather than the negative.  One of the things she mentioned, when she spoke to us on Monday morning, was to keep track of your "three good things", and see if there are any patterns.  (For instance, she noticed that every time she had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, it ended up as one of her "3 good things" for that day.  So she started having a PB & J for breakfast everyday.)  It's simple, but it takes discipline.

It's going to take me awhile to process everything I took in over the past few days.  In the meantime, I will start with three good things.  So for today:

1. Woke up in the hotel room to a pleasant alarm clock that didn't rudely jolt me awake.  (I am ditching my 25+ year old clock/radio and upgrading.)
2. Listened to an amazing speaker talk about the problem of backbiting that made 2 1/2 hours seem like 10 minutes.
3. Had dry weather while driving until I was only 10 minutes from home.

The Official Picture  

These ladies are amazing.

A few of us drove into Beulah to do a little shopping.

They fed us so well everyday, we were too full to try out

the Hungry Tummy restaurant.

Crystal Lake

It's a beautiful lake, but not a Great Lake.

Wildflowers I happened upon while hiking up one of the ski hills.

We had a bonfire Monday evening after playing "Nursing Jeopardy".  

It looks like the losers took it pretty hard.

Ignore those wine bottles.

Our fearless leaders introducing one of the speakers.

The view from the top of one of the ski runs.

Some of the leaves were still colorful.

I am so blessed to have been part of this institute.  Thanks to everyone who was involved.