What went right? A shift in the right direction

I did a really dumb thing yesterday.

I am still in such disbelief I did it, that I haven’t told anyone about it.

I am embarrassed. I’m wondering about my thinking processes. I’m trying to gather the courage to tell you, but not sure — I’ll check my word count at the end and see if I need it…

We are all on the same quest around here, pretty sure.

We want good days. We are looking for joy and we want to flourish and we don’t want to do dumb things.

But it isn’t always easy, right?

So many things go wrong.

For instance, in the smell category only, this has been my last five days:

two loads of laundry that had sat in a damp basement
dog pee in my car
liquid from a large tray of cooked beef soaked into the back seat of my car
sauteed Brussels sprouts
a bag of potatoes had one rotten enough to be reduced to a very putrid liquid

Somehow it is the difficult things that tend to get highlighted in our lives.

A few weeks ago, a mindfulness/prayer app I use asked what had gone right that day.

Bio Box

Elizabeth Bocka is an Ohio native and has lived in Richland County for 20 years. She is president of Community Life Ministries and loves food, people, helping and laughing.

What a brilliant question!

This resulted in a very different list:

I woke up on time.
My mother in law was well and in a good mood.
I got to walk for an hour with my friend.
I met another friend I haven’t talked to for months for coffee.
The coffee shop owner was nice to me
I saw another friend who hugged me and told the whole shop that she loves me
The friend I met for coffee listened well and supported with depth
I realized a problem (complicated, about storing clothes in the basement, see above) and solved it before there were more problems
Another story of mine was published today
I took food to my friend’s family (there was a death) and got to hug and be hugged and loved and all that.
The food was really good.
I had a good message exchange with my nephew and my son.
I walked the dogs in a gorgeous woods.
The dogs were nice and pretty obedient when we met other dogs and people.
I didn’t eat too much.

Of course, there was more. But I am astonished that I haven’t done this before. It feels like a big shift.

Stephany Sawyer, of Mansfield, uses this approach to life.

Recently, her vehicle was hit while parked, resulting in it being undrivable. Neither vehicle had insurance, so she is currently depending on rides from friends.

As she is working through handling the details of repair and police reports and all of that, she is doing it without trashing the people who did it, or complaining, or even — may I be so specific — talking about the costs or the inconvenience or the difficulties she and her three daughters now face daily.

Instead, every time I talk with her, she tells me what is going right. She’s in a conversation with the owner of the other car. She thinks she knows how to get the car fixed.

Isn’t that inspiring?

What if we did that? Kept a running tally of things going right, all the time? I didn’t trip while running. My neighbor waved to me. Plans worked out.

The past two weeks that I have done this have been an attitude game changer. This list feels better to keep. And I love that it is always longer than the “what’s gone wrong” list.

If you try it, let me know what you think!

OK, I’ll tell you what happened yesterday. The dogs were getting groomed, and I was late to the appointment with the mobile groomer. I arrived and parked next to their van and ran to get the dogs ready.

Two hours later, I noticed I was hearing an atypical sound from outside. I went outside to check. It seemed to be coming from my car, which also had moisture underneath, as if the AC had been running for a while.

When I pulled up next to the grooming van, it was running, and in my hurry, I left my keys in the car and didn’t turn the car off.

For two hours.

What went right?