Even if your life in general is going swimmingly, I would venture to guess you have things in your sphere that aren’t awesome.
My husband doesn’t have a job yet — not awesome.
My dog was sick as a dog this week — not awesome.
My creative juices are all dried up (with three big presentations on the horizon) — not awesome.
Can you quickly name some of your own issues that are not awesome? I know you can. We all have them. That’s life.
But when we spend too much time making those not awesome lists in our minds, we start to lose sight of what is awesome.
This is dangerous, because what we focus on begins to grow. If we look for the bad, we’ll train our minds to find things that ignite anger and sadness pathways in the brain. But the opposite is also true. If we look for the good, our brains will learn to seek out the silver linings in each day.
I’m not a picture-taker, but I’ve found it helpful to take photos of things that make me smile because when I scroll back through my pictures, they often make me smile again.
Like the other day when I opened my Alexa app at Walmart and found that my family had added a few things to our shopping list — mainly “Jesus” and “awesomeness.”
Or how about these amazing flowers a woman brought over when she came to look at potentially buying our house?
Or this collage my date for Senior Prom sent to me because his own son was going to prom?
Or this t-shirt I’ve worn for 3 days straight that someone anonymously sent me in the mail?
I opened my computer yesterday to an entire screen filled with happy puppies. My daughter had snuck onto my computer and pulled it up so it would be there the next time I opened my laptop. Puppies are awesome! I had no choice but to giggle. Instant mood boost.
Friends, I know how hard it is sometimes to see the good around us. I know we have to fight sometimes for our own happiness. Let’s remind others they’re not alone by posting a photo of something that makes you smile in the comments section of social media. Meet me on Facebook or wherever you like to be social and let’s give the world a reason to smile.
