Creating some hope – Part I

Johnny was smart as a whip. You’d mention that you were having problems with an important client. He’d pull some movie or pop culture reference out of thin air. “You’re gonna need a bigger boat” to solve that problem, he would say stealing the line from the 1975 film, Jaws.

He had an encyclopedia for a brain. The problem was that his humor and outlook on life could turn south very quickly. We learned later that he was battling his own demons.

I think of Johnny every once in a while, because I have a little secret. I have a dark side. I can be skeptical and sarcastic with the best of them. If I don’t watch, I can be Mr. Doom and Gloom, seeing nothing but negativity and problems. Unlike Johnny, though, I start at Ground Zero focusing on the risks and challenges. From those raw beginnings, I start to see to the positives. There may be only one or two positives at first. But as I look around, they build and build and before long I see opportunities and advantages all around me.

I think my different way of looking at things makes me especially aware of others. I am tuned into the challenges hitting many folks right now. Despite that, I still see much to celebrate. I hope this series, which I plan to post each Monday, from February 17 to March 17, will help.

Six Things That Make Me Smile:

• Going for a walk. It doesn’t have to be far. It doesn’t have to be long. It just has to be . . . out.
• Comic strips and Saturday morning cartoons – everything from Peanuts and Calvin & Hobbes to Looney Tunes Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner and Bugs Bunny to Tom and Jerry. They’re silly and they don’t always make sense, but that’s the point: to laugh at ourselves.

• A new journal and pen. New art supplies too. They create the feeling that anything and everything is possible.
• Award speeches. I’m a sucker for lifetime achievement awards. They teach us lessons on a life well lived. How can you not watch Denzel Washington winning the AFI Life Achievement Award; Matthew McConaughey winning the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2014 for his role as Ron Woodroof in the film Dallas Buyers Club; or Mr. Fred Rogers receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 24th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards Ceremony. I think these speeches teach us as much about the people being honored as they do about ourselves. Congratulations.

• A weekend day with no plans, no get-togethers. Just a blank slate.
• Starting from scratch and ending with a blog post or a story for my novel that I didn’t have an hour or so earlier. Knowing that I created something from nothing.

“Count your age by friends, not years. Count your life by smiles, not tears.” —John Lennon

The next post in this series will run on Monday, February 24.