My friend Mike started a thing called “Mirror Mantras”, where he posts a positive or motivating phrase on his bathroom mirror to keep him inspired throughout the week. Here’s mine for the week:
quotes
Posted on the go via WordPress for BlackBerry.
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.
My friend Mike posts Mirror Mantras to help him get through the week, and I’ve decided to join the positivity.
With the next two weeks of finals ahead of me, I figured I’d need something to keep me from regretting the “I didn’t study enough” / “I studied the wrong stuff” / “I’m being way too negative about this whole thing” perceptions that surely will infiltrate after one of these exams.
And I still can’t find a black (or not pink) Sharpie.
As irony would have it, I connected with Catherine from A Diabetic Ballerina again yesterday–she retweeted my #hawmc post right after my mom e-mailed me that she had printed the tagline from Catherine’s blog and put it on her wall at work after reading it in my e-mail signature. So good. Today, being quotation inspiration day, and Mirror Mantra Monday (hi Mike!), in searching for a quote, I decided what better to use than one of my ultimate favourites–one belonging to Catherine! Canadians unite!
There are so many Good Things here on so many levels. Here goes.
We are here to have impact. We are here to change ourselves . . . and in turn, live with the hope that we will change the world one person at a time. Run at life full force, whether that is a physical run or a metaphorical run. Go at it. Get it. And don’t let it get away.
Movement is something that has become increasingly important to me over the last few years. “Love is a movement.” [–Switchfoot]. Connection is a movement, a daring to step beyond our own personal bubbles that far too many people seem completely okay being smothered inside. Movement is spreading our metaphorical wings to experience what we never dreamed we would become or become capable of. Movement is that desire to own your life. And if you, like me, and like Catherine, live with a chronic disease . . . then owning your disease is a huge part of owning your life. Owning the choices you make. Each choice is a decision to move, and each decision to move is a choice . . . it can be cyclical. Whether it is cyclical for the better, or the worse is a choice . . . and I hope to see the cycle, the ripple effect, be for the better.
The most literal form of the word is the one that has gained the most importance to me personally on in the last year. The movement that I choose to make physically, and the movement I hope to instil in others. And the sharing, the rippling, of this type of movement in our world. Physical activity and exercise . . . it is a choice, and it too, is cyclical. There is no such thing as can’t, and each step forward, each movement, is an impact on health and wellbeing for the better. The movement in my classes to create a movement towards movement. The movement of the kids at work as they experience something new that they are capable of, something that they are able to accomplish while improving their health and having fun. The movement of changing the thoughts from negative to positive, and still underscoring fun.
The movement of dance–the movement of my body connected with my spirit, emotions, environment all moving, melting into one moment, one movement.
The movement to change. To reach out to touch people through whatever means possible. Making an impact on our world. Stepping beyond the invisible comfort zone. Living in each moment in movement, not in stillness, in loudness, not in silence, in passion, not in regret. So that when we’re dead . . . they’ll know we’ve been here.
Own it. And GO. Move.