I awaken with determination to avoid the media's melancholy. I want to make a difference after the recent events in America. Emotions envelope my morning run. Chasing optimism, its mantra moves me around each turn in the route. Scents of the sea and eucalyptus arouse my spirit.
I find joy when commenting on the smiles of passersby, regardless of their mouth configurations. It makes me feel like contributing positivity in some way. Usually a smile eventually spreads from those who wear an upside down lip line. I thank others for sharing their smiles and making my day.
Today requires more attention as zombie faces abound.
When a young man, who works at a local restaurant, fills the place with his radiance and attends to three difficult customers with positivity and politeness, I spend time talking and appreciating him. He seems surprised. "Why should my gratitude cause surprise?" I ask. He shakes his head.
Why don't we spend more time in gratitude for the little things?
As the day progresses, I interact with several individuals who have thankless jobs - like the parking attendant at Vons. I ask about her day. She uses humor a lot when others shout their distaste with her job. I thank her for encouraging my day.
I feel an upward reach of energy. It makes my day shine with hope.
Maybe if each one reaches one, two or more our attitudes will balloon and bump into a greater sense of what it means to be humans doing . . . not just being.
The true source of joy is love — love of God, love of beauty, love of wisdom, love of another human being, it does not matter which. It is all one love: a joyful awareness of dissolving boundaries of our ordinary narrow self, of being one with the reality beyond, of being made whole. - Irma Zaleski from The Door to Joy
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