I’ve just hit “post” on my personal Facebook page. It proudly declares that “Silver Linings” is up on Amazon. I created a graphic of the book’s cover, tied up with a bright red ribbon.
I was rather fixated on getting that bow on it. As I think about today’s entry, I realize it is because that’s what this whole process has been for me: a gift of a shift in focus.
The act of sitting down, forcing myself to look back over the day, analyze those hours and find “something GOOD that happened… BECAUSE of the pandemic”, then write it up, post it to a blog, put it out there for others to see….let’s just say that this task has not been an easy one some days.
Sure, sometimes it has been obvious, fun even. I think of the days like my birthday, when friends surprised me with the idea of a “birthday walk”. The socially distanced cookout in the cow pasture with the neighbors. The lunch in the apple orchard under the pretty pink spring blossoms. The small festivities for the 4th of July.
Other times have been just a slog. There were the early days, when the exchange students just kept going home, one after another. The lack of a sports season for special high school seniors, the absence of a graduation ceremony or a party to mark a major transition in their young lives. The exasperation of watching a business just come to a screeching halt. The realization that things are really and truly out of one’s control.
Throughout it all, I’ve returned to this daily practice of re-seeing the day, digging deeply to find that one silver lining.
When I put the book together, I thought it would be nice to include a quote. I found one that struck me as profound: If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” Dr. Wayne Dyer
Smart guy, Dr. Wayne Dyer… it’s exactly what has happened to me throughout this process of writing the book.