Steps to Success

A new book by Virginia Beach psychotherapist Kristin Barton Cuthriell, The Snowball Effect, draws on research-based techniques to help people reverse the momentum of negative emotions and transform them into positivity and success. Here, ahead of an appearance at an “Evening of Inspiration” at Lululemon Athletica in Short Pump from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on July 10, the author shares 10 exclusive tips to get life moving in a positive direction.

1. Let go of resentment. Resentment drains your energy, kills your spirit and can even kill your physical body. A toxic grudge doesn’t hurt the person who harmed you; it poisons you.

2. Buy sticky notes. List past grievances on sticky notes and stick them all over your body. Then take them off and visualize yourself finally being free from the bitterness that has held you captive.

3. Treat yourself with compassion. Look at a picture of yourself as a child. Treat that child with kindness. Hold yourself accountable and learn from your mistakes, but take a positive rather than critical approach.

4. Monitor your thoughts. Our thoughts have the power to lead us toward a path of success or a path of destruction. If we want to live a positive life, we need to spend more time focusing on what we can do moving forward rather than the things that we can’t change.

5. Stop explosive anger. Explosive anger destroys our relationships and our health. Practice inserting a pause between a triggering event and your reaction. The pause allows our logic to catch up to our emotion. During the pause, think about the consequences ofyour reactions.

6. Tolerate temporary anxiety. Even positive change can create anxiety. In order to move forward in life, we need to be able to tolerate the temporary anxiety that accompanies change.

7. Live with vision. Don’t allow another person to destroy your vision. Remember, people who lack vision themselves will not understand yours.  

8. Take one small step. Sometimes all it takes is one small baby step to get your life moving in a different direction. Doing just one thing differently begins the change process.

9. View rejection as a gift. Rejection means there is a lesson to be learned, it wasn’t a good fit, something better is about to happen, or the timing wasn’t right. It is rarely personal.

10. Keep a gratitude journal. Research shows that practicing daily gratitude improves the mood. Try listing at least two things you are grateful for every day.

The Snowball Effect ($16.82, AuthorHouse) is available on Amazon. For more information about the book and Cuthriell’s appearance in Short Pump on July 10, visit thesnowballeffect.com.