Focus on the Positive

There is so much negativity and unhappiness in the news these days.

It can be difficult not be become saddened, angered or simply overwhelmed by the never ending stories of political shenanigans, corruption, lies, accounts of people suffering, horrendous weather, and stories of abuse of animals.

So my daughter and I are trying something new this year: Every evening we text each other with some bit of good news, something good or happy or funny that happened to us that day. 

Today is the first day we have done this. She reported that she was happy that she got to sleep late without interruption. I said that I was happy that despite a hard fall on ice in my back yard this morning, I suffered nothing more serious than a bruised elbow and sore muscles. My elbow is now purple, but the fall could have caused so much more damage. And even my camera, which I dropped when I felt, landed on the artificial turf and was not damaged.

I hope this little exercise will encourage us to focus more on the good things that happen in our lives and less on the negative and on things we cannot control. Perhaps it will foster a greater sense of gratitude and help protect us from feelings of negativity and hopelessness. Maybe it will become a positive habit and make navigating through this stressful world just a little bit less stressful.