Only The Good Friday – The Good Is as Good Does Edition

A lot of times I begin writing a blog post having no idea where I’m going with it. I just need to put some words on paper (or, more accurately on the computer screen) and see where they lead me. Eventually, hopefully, if it all goes according to plan, by the middle of the first, or at the very least, the second paragraph, I’ve got a blog post forming.

Sometimes, however, I am forced to scrap every word I wrote, and start all over again. The words I have written may flow nicely together, but they say nothing.

Today’s post started much the same way, and I have to be honest, here, at the third paragraph, and I’m still not entirely sure where we’re going with it…let’s see…

Today, is Only The Good Friday, and as is customary, this means that I will focus this blog post on ONLY GOOD THINGS. Shelly started this meme to spread positivity and goodness throughout the blogosphere, and I strongly support the notion.

In fact, I strongly support spreading positivity and goodness every moment of every day, in whatever it is you do.

Sure, we all have “off moments”, days when we wish we could scrap every word we’ve spoken and start all over again. But here’s the beauty. We can.

Every new moment is a chance at a blank slate. You don’t have to wait till “tomorrow” to change your mood, your attitude. You can do it RIGHT NOW, this very second. And honestly, it is not one of those “sounds easier than it is” things. It is that easy.

RIGHT NOW, how are you feeling? Are you in a good mood? If so, then I congratulate you on your choice (yes, I said choice) to face the day with a smile.

But what about those of you NOT feeling so chipper and in love with life? The thing that ways you down could be trivial, or it could be gigantic. Truth is, there are, without question, events in life that warrant some sadness, moodiness, even downright depression. And we should be allowed those emotions. For a time.

What we shouldn’t do, however, is to wallow and linger in misery. For then, what is the point of living?

Whether you are sailing through an easy patch of life, or struggling through a dark and dreary one, you opened your eyes this morning. You were given another chance at the world. We’re each here for such a limited time, it is easy to get caught up in the negativity and misery around us. But even in the darkest moments, beauty and goodness surround us.

It is then, up to us, to CHOOSE to focus on the little things. The lightning bugs and butterflies, the comforting feeling of a friend’s hand on ours, a hug, a smile, a silly television show that makes us laugh. And on the big things too. The magic of a grandiose sunset, the billions of stars in a night sky, love (for is there anything grander than love of any kind?).

And if nothing else, if you truly can’t find a way to change your mood, then focus on someone else. Reach out to someone else with a smile, a hug, a kind word. You have no way of knowing how that small gesture could possibly change someone’s life, but if it does, then in turn, imagine the feeling of goodness that’ll wash over you?

It’s sort of win/win, isn’t it? You spread goodness, you receive goodness. You believe goodness, you feel goodness.

You begin to write a blog post with just the word “good” in your mind and well, look at that…I guess I did have something to say after all.

Also, in a bit of that “coincidence” thing that I don’t really believe in (I believe everything happens for a reason) after I finished writing this post, my good bloggy friend Michelle of Bleeding Espresso sent out a Tweet about “the Happiness Project”. I checked out the website, and found this post which basically says what I’ve been trying to say in this post, only much more succinctly and clearly.

Funny how those things happen huh?

Happy Only The Good Friday, I hope you’ll leave here a little less heavy than you came in. And don’t forget to stop by Shelly’s to see what other Good everyone’s been up to.