Look for the Helpers

I was listening on Audible to The World According to Mr. Rogers. If you haven’t been learning more about him in light of the recent documentary, now is a good time to do so. One of my favorite things he shared in his book was this thought:

He was discussing how it can be difficult when we see so many terrible things happening in our world. We see it and hear it everywhere. TV, radio, email, social media, real conversations. We learn about all the terrible things that people can do. Mr. Rogers’ advice, which was given to him by his mother, is TO LOOK FOR THE HELPERS. Every terrible thing is followed by someone rising up to help. Focus on the HELPERS. Focus on what they do to help. Decide to be a HELPER yourself.

Thank you, Mr. Rogers. That is excellent advice.

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Experiencing: Shifting Perspective for Happiness

Maybe you read my post on the importance of shifting perspective for happiness. I experienced the happiness that the shift provides last week while traveling in Costa Rica with my 7-year-old daughter.

Manuel Antonio Beach, Costa Rica

One day, we went to a beautiful beach. The water was a clear blue, the sand was soft, the waves were gentle enough for relaxing but also strong enough for a little low-key body surfing. It was a perfect beach, in my opinion.

The next day, we went to a different beach. The water was murky, and the beach had lots of broken shells and rocks. Under the water – where we were trying to swim and enjoy the waves — they sand was littered with rough lava rocks that were scratching my feet knees. And the waves were not at all gentle. I said to my daughter that I didn’t like this beach as much as the other beach for all these reasons. She said, “Yeah, it’s not as good, but let’s make the best of it.” Oh, the wisdom of a child!

So we did. And it was really fun! We couldn’t body surf without fear of being driven into the under water rocks, but we could dive into and jump over the big waves. We had to be careful not to hurt our feet walking on the sharp broken rocks and shells on the beach, but we found several little hermit crabs among all those shells.

I am happy someone is listening to the things I say — my 7-year-old. Thanks, sweetie!

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