Great Day in the Morning
We’d shoot the breeze for a little while before I’d have to leave, and Juan would send me on my way with this fabulous line.
“Make it a great day,” he’d say.
Did you catch that? Juan didn’t say “have a great day.” He said, “make it a great day.”
That suggests that we have more power over the events in our lives than a lot of us realize.
This message was reinforced recently when I went to my gym and spotted a small, handwritten sign near the front door.
“Make today matter,” it said.
There is it again. A literal sign encouraging us to make something happen with the time allotted to us.
These two threads were pulled together last week when I read an editorial by New York Times by Lindsay Crouse called “You Can Make Any Day the Best of the Year.”
In her column, Crouse noted that often “the real best days in hindsight weren’t the obvious ones,” such as Christmas or New Year’s Eve when we’re all supposed to feel happy whether we like it or not.
“They were marked by the ordinary,” she said, “a long conversation with a friend when I realized I wasn’t the only one who felt the way I did.”
In a world ruled by Instagram, Crouse said “I rarely had any photos at all of the best days. I was too busy living them.”
Crouse said she decided to try declaring a best day in advance and found that “this effort to make the ordinary feel extraordinary usually worked.”
“Mundane experiences felt special when I marked them as such,” she wrote.
Okay, I thought, let me take a crack out of this.
For the last few mornings, I've made a point of announcing that “this is a great day” when I got up, and I would repeat that message throughout the day.
I felt foolish at first. These are just words. How can they have any effect on what’s going to happen in the next 24 hours?
'It's Gonna be a Great Day'
Well, those words can have a tremendous impact. Obviously, you cannot control events, but you do have some control over your thoughts and reactions.
It amazes me how I’ve always viewed positive thinking as corny, but I will readily put out the welcome mat for a battalion of negative thoughts: I’m too old, I don’t have the connections, nothing ever goes right for me.
This is pure emotional poison, and I didn’t realize how toxic my thoughts were until I shifted to the great day approach.
If this is a great day, then I won’t waste it choking on regret, I won’t repeat the mile-long list of “I-should-haves” and if this a great day, I certainly won’t replay all my bad memories.
I won’t compare myself to others. I will enjoy this great day.
For years I’ve had no trouble telling myself that life sucks and my subconscious mind has been more than happy to oblige.
And I’m seeing how this attitude is a cop-out because when you say that you can’t win, it gets you off the hook.
If everything sucks, then there’s no point in making any effort, so you might as well sit on your ass and Netflix yourself into a stupor.
Please understand that I don’t want to trivialize anyone’s suffering.
The last few weeks alone have been filled with horrible news stories—including yet another school shooting--and my heart breaks for all the poor people involved.
But I’m talking about turning minor inconveniences into epic disasters, something I do far too readily.
I’ve often said that there is no such thing as a miracle cure, and this is no exception.
I did have a lot of success with this approach during the week, but on Friday things kind of fell apart.
My internet connection went on the fritz while I was on deadline, and I had trouble reaching people at work.
So, instead of trying to find answers, I elected to throw a first-rate temper tantrum that had me feeling like crap for the of the afternoon.
But I am not going to let this set-back—if you want to call it that—slow me down.
I’m going to follow my buddy Juan’s advice and keep making it a great day.
Comments
Now go make it a great week, Rob!
I think you right about those lines coming from commercials or newscasts.
But then you can hear something a million times and then things change suddenly when you finally listen to it.
That's what happened with Juan--I actually listened to what he was saying.
And, yes. the occasional temper tantrum does feel good, but they shouldn't be the first line of defense.
Thanks for stopping by and you go have a great week yourself!
Take care!
Rob, that is soooooooo true!
And so is this, “I rarely had any photos at all of the best days. I was too busy living them.”
Have you noticed on places such as Instagram that people are obsessively documenting each moment of their lives via photos? I've often looked at these photos and wondered whether or not they actually "experienced" those moments because they were so busy "documenting" them.
What you shared here is so very true..."Obviously, you cannot control events, but you do have some control over your thoughts and reactions."
Exactly! We don't always have control over events, in fact we rarely do. However, I have always believed that I do have control over how I perceive them and move through them,
Thank you so much for sharing the information about Lindsay Crouse because I will google more about her. She sounds awesome! And congrats to you for putting her philosophy to the test and getting positive results.
Have a GREAT Monday, buddy!
Hey, Ron, what do you say?
Social media is clogged with people "obsessively documenting each moment of their lives" as you so eloquently put it.
I'm guilty of this myself, but I'm trying to cut down. There were a few times recently where I put the damn phone away and just enjoyed the experience--whatever it was.
Lindsay Crouse is really onto something here and I'm so glad I took the time to read that article.
Take care, buddy, and thanks for stopping by!
There is a small sign that hangs on our bedroom wall, which Patrick, my husband, insisted on hanging where we can see it on waking: One small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day.
And although sometimes, I admittedly "forget" to remember that, it is certainly true. As you said in the last past of this post, you "felt like crap" after the temper tirade. By the way, any one of us would certainly have had a similar reaction. Patrick "yells" at inanimate objects all the time when something goes awry. he tells me that it helps.
Keep on making it a great day, my friend.
Hi, Dorothy!
I love that sign about one small positive thought in the morning. That's a terrific way to start the day.
We're all bound to get distracted in our journey to become the greatest versions of ourselves. The important thing is get back online.
Take care!