While I was a student at the university, I was a member of an online community in which I had a diary open for the other members to read. The diary was used for all sorts of writing; reports on what I did, felt or saw.
During my student years, I spent my summers between semesters working outdoors. I loved my summer job and kept returning to it year after year. Nevertheless, some days were boring. Or cold. Or made my body hurt. One summer, on such a day, I heard kid's laughter coming from behind me. I turned around and saw two small boys playing with a ball on a lawn. It wasn't football/soccer. They weren't tossing the ball around. There was no running involved. They took turns holding the ball and while hugging it close, jumped. And jumped. And laughed.
I watched them for a while and then found myself standing there with a stupid grin on my face. I wasn't bored. I didn't feel cold. My body didn't hurt. I was just enjoying myself.
Later that day I published a post in my online diary called "Dagens höjdpunkter" (="Today's Highlights"). I did the same the next day. And the next. And it went on for a long time. I realized I spent more time smiling and feeling good about myself and the life I was in when I focused on noticing all the good stuff around me.
I've been collecting highlights on and off since that first day of publishing them in my online diary. I thought they would make an appearance in this blog from time to time.
~~~~~
Today's Highlights (October 14th, 2009)
* The sky is absolutely clear blue and the air feels clean to breathe in
* The meeting I was in before lunch today in which we prepared for an important meeting we're having next week
* Making my sister laugh on the phone
* The warmth I get from the purple (and fake?) Pashmina shawl I bought in Florence
* The leftover pie and salad I had for lunch today. (It was my turn to house the bookclub meeting yesterday and I had made a pie with feta cheese and olives in it. I had also made a turkey salad to go with it.)
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Highlights (1)
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3 comments:
You are so right about focusing on the highlights of one's day, rather than the lowlights, Anna! Sometimes it's difficult to do, but who wants to hear about the negative stuff?
My highlights today: getting somewhere with a difficult beaded knit. My funny cat trying to play with my beads. A phonecall from one of my daughters. Birds feeding on my new balcony. A phonecall from my lovely uncle.
Thank you for making me think of these things!
That's a great idea, Anna. As a long-term pessimist, I've always been told to look on the bright side of life, but never thought about actually writing down the good things that happen to me, even if they're just mundane things that bring me short-term pleasure.
I love this idea - it is so easy to focus on the negative. I might have to "borrow" this idea. I find my blog posts so picture centric that it would be nice to have something consistent just to write about.
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