Little Lights in the Crack
I think I speak for most of us when I say that 2019 was a hard year. As we sit on the other side of it, where the clocks and calendars now mark a new year, the difficult and painful things will not magically erase with the passing of a new decade. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned from trudging through dark and heavy things, it’s that where there’s darkness, there’s also light. We just have to find it.
I’ve made it my unofficial mission to push others towards this truth, even as I sometimes forget it myself. That’s what we’re here for, I believe that.
As I was thinking back over the last 12 months and all that they’ve held, I am choosing to remind myself of the good and sweet things that happened amidst the grey. For example, I learned that the pacific ocean is breathtaking and I got to design wedding invitations for two of my favorite friends. I’m a big advocate for seeking to love the little things, because these moments deserve space to not be overlooked or forgotten.
"The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts; therefore guard accordingly." —Marcus Aurelius
One way I plan to focus on these little things is to write them down. A simple practice I learned from Hannah Brencher, involves a daily habit of writing down please and thank you’s.
TY: running in the woods alone blasting the killers
TY: creativity
P: help me move out of the way
The “TY” stands for thank you. These are small things to thank God for. The “P”s stand for places we want God to show up in.
I started an ongoing list in a pocket-size notebook. These scribbles and scrawlings are becoming a daily habit that will teach me to focus on gratitude amidst the mess. Hannah mentions in her description of this little practice,
“I learned that joy isn’t always something you find, it’s something you make. It’s a mindset. It’s a perspective. It’s a decision to focus on the good when it would be easier to complain about the ‘not yet’ or the ‘not perfect.’“
As usual, I put together a video of these sweet, simple, some mundane and some grand, moments from 2019. I made this mostly for myself to look back on later, but I also hope it brings you joy and a reason to chase gratitude for our crazy little lives.
And last but not least, it’s been a bit since I’d updated the boombox playlist. Here are 58 tracks that I think are worth a listen, fam.
Listen here.
