Finding the Good

Dear Friend,

Imagine you have a banana as part of your breakfast each day. One morning, excited for your daily dose of potassium, you begin to peel your banana- only to reveal a rather unfortunate looking piece of fruit. It's not exactly rotten, but it's definitely covered with a couple ugly bruises. Not very appetizing, right? Disappointed, you think to yourself, "Darn, I was really looking forward to eating that banana. What good is it now?" Well, we're here to help you answer that question. Instead of throwing away the slightly mushy banana, you can use it to make some banana bread muffins. It's as simple as that. However, finding the good in each day may not be as easy as turning something unappetizing into a yummy dessert. How can we work on finding the good in our lives and what exactly does it mean to do so?

Finding the good in hopeless situations 
Changing your perspective is key in looking at the positive side of seemingly frustrating situations. We are often so stubborn and narrow minded that we forget to look at the bigger picture, which can be very detrimental to others and to ourselves. Here's a situation that can help us realize the importance of finding the good: In 2009, Catherine began a personal project (to learn more about her project, you can visit her site www.hopeforsisim.webs.com). For the last few years, she has been collecting backpacks and school supplies for the Sisim Elementary School in Ilocos Sur, an underprivileged province of the Philippines. Last summer, she had the opportunity to travel to the Philippines and personally deliver the supplies to the children. The trip was very successful and rewarding- Catherine was able to give a backpack to each of the kids in the school. But let's think about this situation...to many of us, these backpacks were simply backpacks. However, to the kids, they meant so much more. You could tell by their excitement and gratitude that the backpacks were a reason for them to stay in school and pursue a better future. Some of these kids are forced to quit school at an early age in order to work and yet they managed to find so much joy in something that doesn't seem important. These children have taught us a valuable lesson. By simply changing our view of a situation, we can find the good in desperate situations and turn things completely around.

Finding the good in people 
We encounter many different people throughout our lives and often times we aren't a fan of some of them. It's simply impossible for us to get along with every single person in this world due to different hobbies and interests. She may consider running a marathon the highlight of her week while your idea of fun is sitting at home reading Harry Potter. However, our dislike for people doesn't always stem from a lack of similarities. It can be so much more complicated than that- like someone hurting you in a way that seems totally unforgivable. Learning how to forgive them is a different story (which we will save for another post), but no matter what this person has done to us, we should not focus on all the negative qualities about them. We must learn to move past just "tolerating" those who we don't like and take a leap of faith by finding the good in them. It's not always easy to look past people's imperfections, but if you are able to find one good thing about them, we guarantee that you will feel a whole lot happier. Sometimes viewing someone through a different set of lens will help you see that person in a whole new light.

Finding the good in every day is really difficult to do and it takes a lot of practice. But no matter how frustrated or disappointed you are, remember to stay positive and change your perspective- we can guarantee your mushy bananas will turn into banana bread any day :)

We can't direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.

Yours truly,
Kylie and Catherine