If you have followed me on social media, for the last two years I have dedicated my posts from the beginning of September until Canadian Thanksgiving to making note of 3 good things in my life each day.
In fall of 2021, I was on a course with Stanford, we had to post our good things daily in a designated forum. At the time there was a lot of disarray in my life, on every level I felt things were stressful or falling apart. This assignment was a significant experiment in my life, I really had to dig deep to come up with my three things. It helped me personally and to my surprise I had others reach out and tell me how much it made their days. It wasn’t about pleasing anyone, it was about setting a goal and seeing it through. How fortunate that it lifted others along the way.
This year I set out to do it again, it was about reframing the perspectives on my life, on my own terms. Because I used Instagram, I needed to have a photo to go with my post and had to be looking for something throughout the day that captured the essence of my good things. People would say, “Am I going to be one of your good things today?”, it didn’t occur to me that anyone would care, but they did. Imagine reframing the way you think about something you have done a thousand times, or showing that you value an experience by making it one of your highlights. You can’t go wrong, if you look for the good you will find it, and likewise for the bad.
On the flipside, I had a few comments last year along the lines of “wouldn’t it be nice”. This surprised me, the things I expressed were nothing out of the average persons’ reach. Sometimes it was as simple as, “We had left overs, Mom win!” Again its the reframe, the new perspective on the old and mundane. It was also so completely out of context for what was actually happening in my life. Looking for the bad will certainly manifest it, you will always bump into someone who doesn’t really know what’s happening in your shoes. Don’t take it personally, I mean that, shake off the discouragement or the need to justify and keep going. At some point, those naysayers will have a similar awakening or they might realize that some of the small and simple things really can perk you up. I hope they share it when it happens.
Try it out. Make a note at the end of the day, even if its just for a week, what three things are you grateful for, cheered you up or saw in a different light? Tell me how it makes you feel.