A Wake-up Call
This morning in one of our team meetings, a co-worker shared the importance of reflecting on your day and taking the time to evaluate your experiences. It really got me thinking about how distracted I am by the end of the day and how many times I walk out the door without something I should be remembering to take with me.
As my co-worker was speaking, I started reflecting on the previous day. He said to think of one thing that made me feel the most like myself. The moment that brought out the best in me and got me excited about my day. This was more profound for me that my co-worker probably realized.
The highlight of the previous day for me happened the first thing in the morning:
A child came into the school looking a little down. I asked him what was wrong and he said that he felt like he was being bullied. When I asked him to elaborate, he said that he had told some of the kids in his class that he was possibly going to be going to a different school. The other kids didn't believe him and started laughing. I told him that no matter where he went to school, there will be kids that will say hurtful things. He had to focus on who God says he is and not to worry about what the other kids think. We talked for a few minutes and he seemed to respond well to our conversation. I walked away feeling really good that I work at a private school where I can freely share my faith and not worry about losing my job.
If I had taken the time to reflect on my day and had remembered that moment, my energy would have returned to equip me to face the second half of my day.
It is amazing to me how influential our brains are in our mood and our outlook on life. Knowing this, do we usually choose to focus on the uplifting events of our day, or the other events that drag us down? Human nature causes most of us to focus on the negative and often not even remember the positive.
What if we actually did take the time at the end of our work day to reflect on all of the events of the day and make a conscious choice to focus on those things that made us feel good about ourselves; the things we got right, the people who blessed us in some way, even if it was something small? What difference could that make to our personal lives, our marriages, our relationship with our kids?
I personally plan to put this theory to the test. Will you join me? 😉