Has this ever happened to you? By January, you have all these extra calendars, journals or planners lying around. Maybe they were Christmas gifts or leftovers from your early January initiative to “get organized in the new year!” Whatever the case, they’re everywhere!
That’s what happens to me almost every year. This January, though, was different. I didn’t buy a new calendar. I already had a weekly checklist, plus an erasable calendar for tracking important work deadlines. So 2018 was looking to be the year of no new calendars.
And then my colleague Corlette popped up near my desk, carrying a giant calendar. “Do you want this?” she said. It was about half my height, but I couldn’t say no. Even if I had no idea what to do with it. I stuck it behind my filing cabinet and forgot about it.
Last Friday, I saw it again and pulled it out. “Does anyone want this calendar?” I asked the Mysterious Ways team. “I don’t know what to do with it, but I feel bad throwing it away.”
Mysterious Ways assistant editor Alex Bova came over to inspect it.
“Did you know you’re supposed to try to find three good things in every day?” she said.
Three good things? What did that have to do with a giant calendar? Unless…maybe I could write down three good things on the open calendar spots every day? That was certainly one use for the giant calendar that had entered my life.
I got out my special pink editing pen. Hmmm. Three things. Number one–there’d been free bagels in the office kitchen. Number two–it was Friday. Enough said. But what about number three?
“You look nice today!” Alex told me.
“Aha!” I said. “’Unexpected compliments.’ There’s my third thing!”
I hung up the calendar in a spot where I could always see it, armed with a plan.
For the rest of the month–and for as long as possible after that–I’m going to jot down three good things about every day. Nothing fancy. Just simple, wonderful things that can be summed up in a word or two.
What about you? What are your “three good things” for today?
