Sparkle

I was opening the mail at work (part of my job) and came across a newsletter from a local printing company.  It’s by far my favorite printed newsletter.  There are always bits of unique information, trivia, quotes, current events, and history facts.  I always try (and fail!) to identify the year that a significant event had taken place.  It’s harder than it sounds!

So in the last newsletter there were several quotes from Ben Franklin (another thing that’s in it every month) and I really enjoy them.  One was ‘when things don’t seem to be going right, go left.’  Ha!  Good advice!  But the one I liked best was ‘Don’t every let anyone dull your sparkle.’

Hmmmm.  Well, that’s really easy to do.  Something doesn’t go the way you expect, or you don’t meet someone else’s expectations, or what you had hoped for falls short.  Every day there is something that can disappointment us.

But every day there are dozens of other things that are good, and happy, and normal, and perfect, and exciting, and rewarding, and make us smile.  There are people we enjoy being around, and people we are glad are NOT around, and tasks that we complete satisfactorily, and tasks that we didn’t have to do after all!  So many little, ordinary seconds in our day that are really extraordinary!  If only we stopped to recognize them!

Sometimes, when I look at something or talk to someone and the expectation falls short, I feel deflated.  Like it’s my fault, or even that I should eliminate the situation from my everyday activities, or that I need to accept the responsibility of someone else’s choices or personality (good or bad!). 

But I’m letting these things dull my sparkle.  I CAN sparkle!  I can move above whatever is pulling me down.  I can smile and look for the blessings, and I can fill my mind with happy thoughts.  Even in the worst situation, there are still thousands of happy thoughts to reach out for! 

I’m going to go now, because I’m going to practice sparkling.  I’ll start with my Wednesday night cleaning routine, because getting it done makes me happy, and then I can eat some yummy meatloaf, which makes me happy, and then I can watch the sappy Hallmark movie, which makes me happy.  So many blessings; so many ways to sparkle!  See ya — go sparkle!!!