Amazing Things Happen When You Look for the Good

It’s only the fourth day of my 30-day November project of looking for the Good, the Bright, and the Beautiful and I am amazed at how this project has shown me SO MUCH GOOD!

Yesterday I heard a news story on Public Radio about a 14-year-old Afghan girl who is working to better the lives of Afghan children by setting up a school for the children of the slum where she lives, gathering the children to go to school every day, and teaching the kids basic things like the alphabet.

I was so grateful for the things this girl is doing and so inspired by the actions of a young woman in Kabul who has so little giving so much.

“When I grow up I want to be a lawyer to fight for women’s and children’s rights. Whatever I do in the future, I want to help children.” — Aziza Rahimzada in BBC interview

I’m not sure I would have paid as much attention to the story if I hadn’t been focusing on looking for the good, the bright, and the beautiful.

I believe that we see what we focus on.

If you focus on all of the things that are wrong with the world, you will see them and be overwhelmed by them. If you focus on all the good things in the world, you will see them and be uplifted.

Other Goodness…

I have also been noticing and appreciating the good in my husband and close friends as they go about their daily lives being who they are. My sweet Jon is always ready to drop whatever he is doing to help out me, our kids, or a friend. My friend Elizabeth, is always looking for ways to help those around her find wholeness and health. One of her special gifts is an ability to connect with kids like no one I know. My life is so much richer with them in it. My kids fill me with joy every time I think about them. Both of our daughters have become such vibrant interesting women.

In my wanderings online I have discovered many websites that have positive stories and focus. Yesterday I wrote about the DailyGood website. The more I followed connections from each story to it’s source, the more great websites I found that focus on sharing positive news.

Check out these sites:

• Greater Good, The Science of Meaningful Lives sponsored by the Greater Good Science Center at University of California Berkley.
• TheInnerNet website written by Nipun Mehta. Nipun is the founder of ServiceSpace.org, a nonprofit that works at the intersection of gift-economy, technology and volunteerism.
• Kindness blog shares media featuring kindness in all it’s many forms.
• Tiny Buddha: Simple Wisdom for Complex Lives is a blog that features posts about happiness, motivation, inspiration, love, relationships, meaning, possibilities, mindfulness, and letting go. Much of it has its roots in Buddhism, but it is not a site about religion. It’s about ideas that make sense and make a big difference when applied.

The magic of this process of paying attention to the good, is that is makes me feel happy and hopeful. 

“Tell me to what you pay attention and I will tell you who you are.” ~Jose Ortega y Gassett

Try it for 3 days. Commit to noticing something good in the news, an act of kindness, something inspiring, or something beautiful. Pay attention to how doing this makes you feel. AND THEN START PAYING IT FORWARD THROUGH RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS AND SERVICE.

Can you think of one small action you can take today that will be of service to someone or to the earth?

May you walk in beauty.

Trumpeter Swans