We have discovered a couple of great little books written by David Niven, Ph.d. entitled “The 100 simple secrets of Happy People” and “The 100 simple secrets of Happy Families”. The most interesting thing about these “secrets” is that they are all based on research. We will post a weekly tip at the ranch and here for you to consider…
PAY ATTENTION. YOU MAY HAVE WHAT YOU WANT.
We often forget to sit down and think about where we started and where we are now. The human tendency is to always want more. A better approach is to remember where you started and appreciate how much you have accomplished.
Sometimes this practice of not giving yourself credit 
for what you have becomes a damaging habit. We find this to be so true in our work with kids, teens and even adults. A client will lament that they are struggling to learn to canter, when the reality is 
that they have only been riding for a short time. We may have to remind them that when they started with us a few months ago they had never even led a horse, let alone ridden one. By failing to acknowledge and even celebrate your accomplishments you go through life disappointed and seeing yourself as unsuccessful. Certainly not a healthy way to value all the wonderful gifts you have, even as you work on the challenges you face. It’s called self esteem and it is something powerful that horses can help us develop.
In research on highly educated professionals, almost half of the subjects could not become satisfied even as they accomplished their apparent goals because they did not recognize their accomplishments and instead created an irrational negative image of themselves. Thurman 1981