Seeing the good

I got an email from BYUtv a little over a week ago. I was just glancing through it and the phrase “See the good” stood out to me. Turns out that is the name of the TV stations blog – See the Good. But that wasn’t initially obvious to me. Instead I saw that more as a life philosophy (and maybe it stood out to me a bit more because I hadn’t quite yelled at someone on the phone the day before and I needed to be reminded that there is good).

But imagine if it was a world philosophy. If the whole world made an effort to see the good, what kind of difference would that make in our world? Think about just politics. What would be different in politics if politicians and constituents made it a point to see the good (and then do the good)?

But on a smaller scale. The difference in an individual life when you look for the good could be outstanding. Some believe that venting about the bad is good and is a release. But I’ve noticed that venting becomes more of a downward spiral for me where I keep finding more and more to vent about, more and more that is bad in my world. But when I instead see the good, that also becomes a spiral, but instead this one moves up. And I start to notice the beautiful weather and the hawks on my drive rather than the idiot who can’t figure out which side the gas pedal is on. I start to notice the peace that I do have in my life rather than the chaos that is still there. And I start to express more gratitude for that good. There is real power in seeing the good.

While I was a missionary my companion and I once were really having a hard time. She was wonderful at seeing the bad, and it was really starting to weigh me down, and everyone else we met. One night on our way home I told her that when we got home she needed to list five miracles/good things that she had seen that day. She thought five was too many and wanted to do just five. I came back and told her that no, it would be five, and tomorrow we’d be doing five different ones. That simple exercise changed both of us, for the better.

So, what good have you seen lately? 🙂

For me, today, it was the sunset tonight. It was the beautiful weather for my run this afternoon. It was that I can run! It was that I get to teach and how much I love that. And it’s the great book I’m reading right now that’s given me a LOT to think about (The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene).