My father would say, “a good day is every day I wake up” which is the kind of attitude that has the possibility of taking over the negative bulldozers that are able to rob a day.
To paraphrase Julia Roberts in “Pretty Woman,” it is so much easier to believe and to remember the bad over the good. That line resonated with me so much that on a very conscious level, I decided to flip the script. I began to make it a habit to document my good days.
First, I began to alter to my language around what I considered bad. Instead, I call it a challenge or a growth day. A day where the Universe moves me from a mental or physical space that no longer serves me. Although this movement may initially feel uncomfortable, I hold on to the promise of good that will follow as I grow into my full human potential. I don’t want to be the woman in the legend who had a dream she had gone to heaven only to discover the plethora of gifts given to her during her time on earth that she did not open because of fear, doubt or an inability to move beyond a comfort zone.
On those days when I feel less than special, inspired or having a hard time seeing the good, I will open one of my journals in search for the memory of good day. I cannot express the joy I feel when I open a page that begins: “I feel fantastic! Today was a good day!” I then read the memory associated with the feeling and anything “other” that wants to creep in to steal my joy disappears into the ether. There is no way my ancestors made it through the middle passage, slavery, reconstruction, Jim Crow and civil unrest without holding on to a good day for the promise of better days. Juneteenth was one of those good days that I and others hold and celebrate.
A good day reminds me of a Monarch butterfly I want to capture in a jar to study its colors and multitudinous designs, but I know I must free into the world to marvel at its flight and ability to flit and to land for others to enjoy. I ask you, for you, to chart your good days. Begin with a list of 20 Good Days you have experienced in your lifetime. Create your Good Day book; revel in the good and be renewed.
Comments