On my break at work the other day, it occurred to me that I had never really covered the phrase that is good things in the content of this blog. I encourage you to share your own thoughts in the comments section, I would love to hear them!
As irony would have it, it took me months to realize that I walk in to work every single day and this is the first thing I see [I am being all Ramona Quimby, Age 8 about it, sort of]. Good Things . . . happen to people who try. It is honestly the best reminder to see frequently eleven months a year.
It is a complete coincidence that Good Things is a thing that Jay and a friend of his came up with to encourage others. I mean, it is the simplest phrase, and that is why it is so golden. To quote an e-mail from New Year’s Day in a discussion we were having about this phrase:
The interesting thing about “good things” is I see it like this …. all emails, messages, texts, and conversations involve a lot of content and affect … a lot of emotion… yet through it all regardless of what has transpired … regardless of how tired you might be … uncertain… scared… proud… hopeful …. things are still good … that does not mean they are easy….yet if you step back you realize things can still be good.Jay Greenfeld
I send dozens of e-mails a week. And [dependent on the level of formality, of course] I attach a “good things!” to the end as often as possible [usually a “thank you, and good things”, but regardless] as inspired by Jay’s e-mails, with hopes to inspire this thought process in others as he did in me . . . through a simple thing.
Simple things are what make the difference. The choice to make this realization that “things can still be good” regardless of circumstance.
Simple things that prompt a reflection on what is good, what continues to be good, and what will be good in the future–to keep everything in perspective.
Simple things that encourage me to make the right choice, in whichever decisions I encounter in a given moment/day/week/month/year. Because each choice acted on may chase another recklessly into a new chapter of the journey towards further good . . . and you just don’t know until it unfolds.
Simple things . . . like a roll of painter’s tape and a purple wall in my bedroom above my bed:
. . . To remind me to always recognize the good things. In my life, myself, those around me, and the circumstances around me, amongst the entire picture.
. . . To remind me of this every day I wake up, with hopes that I will not stay in exactly the same place. That I will grow intentionally. That I will trust but recognize the process. And that I will encounter everything I am meant to. All the good things.
The simple things that are good things.
And the good things that are here . . . and yet to come.