November 2019
"What's the best thing that happened to you today?" I asked over coffee last week. He thinks for a moment before answering.
The reply is usually as simple as the question itself:
A moment of creative inspiration
A feeling of accomplishment
A kind word
It's a simple question and a meaningful daily practice. One that tilts our perspective toward the positive. It's an invitation to recognize those small moments that may be too easily forgotten, dismissed as too small or insignificant, lost in the shadow of something bigger and more dramatic.
(Because we all have those moments in our days.)
But what's really important? What do you want to remember?
Growing up, my parents asked this question almost every night at the dinner table. I remember saving up good things that happened throughout the day so I'd have something ready to share when it was my turn (#introvertlife). But what a perspective to have on the day.
what if we approached every day looking
for
the good?
What if we approached every day looking for the good? Looking for the bright spots? Saving up the good moments so we'd have many to choose from at the end of the day when deciding on the best thing?
It's a gift, those words. A moment to pause and reflect, the gift of time and space, a holy moment of gratitude for the day we've lived.
We all know there are more than enough negative things to focus on, but dwelling on those things doesn't fill us up or bring us gratitude. And they don't spur us to action. If anything, they paralyze us. They hold us hostage to fear and anger; closed fists, closed heart, closed mind.
Instead, a way forward, a way through.
One simple question, then: "What's the best thing that's happened to you today?"
