Author: Michelle

Today’s News

“Nobody should ever feel sorry for you, so keep your bad news to yourself and don’t complain.” A quote by Patricia Marx – I read in a magazine recently.

Then this morning during our creative team meeting, we were discussing the media and how it only reports bad news. I threw out the suggestion, what would happen if for one day the media only reported good news. The answer I got “crickets chirping” would be the only sound we would hear.

But think about it… why couldn’t only good news be reported. What impact could that have on our city, our state, the nation, and the world. There are so many good things happening in the world every day – random acts of kindness – that don’t need to be sensationalized, just shared.

So my challenge to you today is in your community, report only good news. Share with your family, your friends, your co-workers, only good and positive news. Leave all the bad stuff behind.

Post a comment too and let me know what good news you have.

Carpe Diem

Did you seize the day today? A more literal translation of carpe, according to Wiki-pedia is “harvest”. So did you harvest what today has to offer? Each day comes with all sorts of different opportunities, both good and bad. What will you choose?

I was having a conversation with a friend the other day about how we live our lives – worrying about the small things, let other peoples actions influence our attitude, and generally just getting by day to day not really enjoying life. But what if we lived each day with our focus solely on that day and not on what is out of our control tomorrow or what is past? How would we treat people? What would we say? Better yet, what would we do?

I’ve met many people who aren’t happy in their lives and they blame the world around them for their circumstances. And I’ve met others who live with their focus on that particular day or moment or person that they are with. Ask yourself, who would you rather hang out with? I know when I am around a person who has nothing but negativity surrounding them it brings me down real fast and affects me for the rest of the day. But when I am around those who have a love for life and what they are doing it makes even the darkest of days brighter.

What if we all took responsibility for our own actions, attitudes, and words – how would that change things? I personally am trying to live this way, and it’s hard. No doubt about that. I have to remind myself each day that it’s a good day and I’m going to have a good attitude and I’m going to do what is placed in front of me that day. And by doing this, I’ve noticed a difference in my life and in the lives of those around me. I’ve noticed that the people that I used to hang around who would do nothing but bring me down, aren’t really around anymore. And those that impart good things into my life are around a whole lot more.

Seize the day! For those of you who haven’t seen the movie Dead Poets Society, go rent it. It’s a great movie. And when you are done with that one, go rent Life As A House. It will remind you how we should all live our lives.

In a box…

“Fox. Socks. Box. Knox. Knox in box. Fox in socks. Knox on fox in socks in box. Socks on Knox and Knox in box. Fox in socks on box on Knox. … And here’s a new trick, Mr. Knox… socks on chicks and chicks on fox. Fox on clocks on bricks and blocks. Bricks and blocks on Knox on box.” And so it goes in “Fox in Socks.”

I’ve been thinking a lot about boxes. Not necessarily the physical boxes so much, but the mental boxes. The tendency we all have to put people in a box.
We have one for work, one for school, one for church, one for this and one for that. But what would happen if we let those around us out of the box? What would we find? Would we be willing to accept people for the way they are or would we want to quickly stuff them back in the box we took them out of.

Have you ever thought about how you would describe your box? Is it a cardboard box or a treasure box? There is so much pressure from our society to be “perfect”, to be the most glamorous of treasure boxes, that when we don’t live up to that expectation we think we’re just a worthless cardboard box that someone has dumped in the trash.

But consider for a moment the cardboard box and all it’s uses. We use it to move things, store things, ship things across the miles, and if you’re like my family, you save those boxes and use them again and again and again. But the point I’m trying to make here is we always come back to the cardboard box, while the shiny treasure box just sits on a shelf – collecting dust, until one day it’s packed away in yes, a cardboard box and long forgotten.

We have to look beyond the box – and look at what’s inside. That’s where the true treasure is. And we have to allow people in our lives to see inside our box as well. We have so much to share and give as long as we’re willing to open the box.