What Are You Looking For?
My son's first word was ball and ever since that first word was uttered out of his mouth he’s said it thousands of times. He finds all our dog’s balls in the backyard, he loves basketballs, tennis balls, anything that looks like a ball – an orange, an apple, you name it “ball, ball, ball”. I’m often blown away at the balls he does find. When we’re on a walk in the neighborhood, he will find the tiniest tennis ball hiding in someone's garden from five houses away and scream, “BALL!!!!” One time we were walking past a U-haul moving truck and he pointed to the truck and said, “BALLL!!!!” trusting that it was there because he hasn’t been wrong yet, I was looking all over for the ball inside the moving truck. Turns out there was a decal of moving boxes and toys on the outside of the truck and a little basketball included in the decal of the toys. His entire world is oriented toward finding balls (PS if you’re not laughing at the amount of times I’ve used the word ball by now, you’re way more mature than me).
After experiencing his ability to literally find a ball anywhere, it got me thinking about how this relates to how we, as adults, show up in the world. My son has made it his mission to find joy (and balls) and because he’s expecting it, he always finds it. His commitment to finding joy is greater than his commitment to his limitations. I understand that he has yet to be jaded by his experiences of life or society, but what is preventing us all from being more committed to finding joy than to our limitations?
When I was in grad school my teachers would say, “if you’re going to make up a story about yourself, it might as well be a good one”. How often do you let your mind wander and seconds later you’ve gone down a spiral as to why things can’t happen, or this relationship or friendship will be just as horrible as the last or your boss is going to be a jerk because that’s just how he is, or you’re expecting an experience to be bad because of what other people have told you. We all do it. The truth is the only thing getting in the way of having a different experience is our own thinking. What if instead of being committed to how things always were, you committed yourself to joy, to possibility, to literally having a ball! One of the things people tend to get wrong is they allow their future to be dictated by past events when the future is created in the NOW.
This week, I encourage you to look at your own thinking around how you’re showing up because it’s true that what we focus on grows. Here are a few reflection questions to challenge your thinking:
What are you looking for?
In what areas of your life are you committed to possibility?
What areas of your life are you committed to your own limitations?
I can be the presence of joy today by…
If I expect miracles to happen, I might…
Here’s to having a day full of joy and possibility! xx