MONTH IN REVIEW

So it just hit me a few hours ago… It’s June 30th… the end of another month!  I have approached the “halfway mark” of my 365 Days of Goodness!  Time is a-flying!  Summer hasn’t just started, it’s in full effect!  Heck, 4th of July is this weekend!  I often find myself asking, “where has the time gone?!”

All the thoughts of bills, to-do’s, and missed opportunities started to flood my mind this evening, and then it stopped.  And a bright little light went off inside me.   And I allowed my mind to find the goodness.  I thought about the sweet little animals I got to spend time with last week, my last day with Ms. Good’s class, and all the other inspiring people I’ve met and all the amazing charities I’ve learned about this month.  I felt good.  I felt appreciative.  I felt… present.

I know every one of us has these moments where time just catches us off guard–it’s the moment right before we shout aloud some rendition of “Wow!  Where has the time gone?!”  We all have them.  Sometimes daily.  And it hit me this evening, that this time-induced panic is a little alarm clock coming from the depths of our souls.  I know I may sound a little “woo woo” here, but stick with me for a second.  I really think there is something to these moments.  Something that breaks us out of our passive everyday routine and awakens us to the present moment.  Just like the alarm that awakens us in the wee hours of the morning, the alarm inside us blares and awakens us to the fact that we may have been walking around “sleeping” most of the time.

Life is precious and often we find ourselves walking through it, not necessarily present.  And as we are here on the “Goodness” site… I will specifically speak to the presence of goodness.  It’s easy for us to see the negative, the fears, the “un-accomplishments”, … the bills.  In fact, these are the first things that went off when my internal alarm sounded this evening.  But after taking a moment, we can center ourselves and gain presence–become aware and conscious of our present moment.  And in that present moment we can choose to insert goodness.  It’s a tiny little opportunity to think about the goodness in our lives.  And if nothing comes to mind, switch it.  Turn it around.  Think about the goodness you give to others.  Or better yet, the goodness you have the power to do — for the planet, for those in need, for animals, or even for yourself.  It only takes a moment.  It can be tiny.  It can be easy.  It just has to be “good!”

*I want to thank my amazing husband, Matt, for helping me write this article.  He has a way with words that is unprecedented!