On my way to work and I just heard
over the radio that the main interstate I
am about to use to get to work is now at
a standstill due to a broken-down car.


I am twenty minutes away and realize
the only way I am going to get to
work on time this morning is to take
the back roads through a small town
of six stop lights.


Crossing my fingers there are no
school buses on the road ahead of me,
I turn onto main street. Just a few cars
ahead of me.


That’s a good sign.


Coming up to the light and it turns
green. Sail through the first light. Traffic
is flowing and we sail through the
second light.

In front of me a garbage
truck is pulling out but instead of
turning onto the road, it crosses in front
of me to the other side.


My lane is still clear.


Over the hill and the third light is red
but as I get ready to break for it, the light
turns green. Wahoo so far so good.

The
fourth light is already green.
As I sail under it, I see the light
turn yellow. The fifth light is green. One more to go.


The last light before I turn to go up the
hill to my place of work is red as I come
to a complete stop.


But as soon as I stop, it flips to green and
I turn up the hill.


I arrive in my company’s parking lot and
look at my watch.
Five minutes early!

Life is really good.

Today I am grateful when things
work out even better than I
thought they would.


Have you ever had something like
that happen?


Where you thought it was going to end
up badly for you but instead turns out to
be something awesome?


It’s that little thing that surprises
you and gives you a quick lift that
says, “Hey something nice happened
to me today.”


How about the person walking in
front of you into work opens the door
and actually holds it for you letting you
enter first? Wow that was sweet.


Or the cleaning guys emptied your
garbage can from your desk and
got rid of that smelly stuff your
neighbor had left over from his lunch
yesterday? Super nice.

The friend who had time to stop for
a specialty coffee and brought you one
too just because. It made my day.


What I’m really talking about is being
mindful enough to notice when the good
things happen.


As a society many of us like to focus
on what is going wrong. But when
we instead shift our focus onto
what wonderful things are really
happening… it can change what would be
a frustrating day to a great one.


I was talking with a friend who told
me her life sucked because she was
having a hard time on the dating scene as a single mom.


I asked her about her kids and she
told me how well they were doing.
Then I asked her about her job that
she loved and she said she was so glad
she was able to make it work for her.

Finally I asked her if she was excited
about her trip coming up in a couple
of days and she shared all the exciting
things they were going to do.


“You’re living the good life.” I
commented.

Then she saw it.


She was living the good life but like
many of us, was focusing on the one
thing that wasn’t working yet.


The old question goes like this,
” Are you a half full or half emptied
kind of person?”


How do you see yourself?


I’m working on life is half full and more
wonderful is on the way.


I hope you are too.


man watching the sun rise

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