One Good Thing …

The last few years have seemed so unbelievably crazy to me, especially as a person of color. Those who have been following me for a while know that I’m a divorced mother with four sons (due to domestic violence) and I have a background in Elementary Education and I’m a lover of history, especially African American history from 1619 up until the Civil War. I grew up learning about enslaved people, my local lynching tree, the struggles my grandparents/family faced with racism, and the Civil Rights movement. I knew something was wrong when the stories that I learned in school didn’t match what I was taught at home. So I decided to get a Social Science degree (History/Government) along with my Endorsement in Elementary Education. To me, looking around the world today, there still seems to be a lot of the same history repeating itself time and time again. With this realization, I have a few of unhappy and sad moments in my day.

Even though my family had a lot of struggles with racism and black hate, I was raised to treat everyone with the highest level of humanity and respect. I did the exact same things in raising my sons. Over the years on a few occasions, I ran into some racist people and dealt with lots of discrimination (especially as an educator) due to my caramel skin and while it stung a little, I was able to shake it off rather quickly. I began to notice that I wasn’t shaking it off as fast as I used to about 10 years ago. With the rise of social media and the spreading of news in the flash of an eye, I was seeing in real time deep rooted hatred for people of color and deadly violence against black people on a daily basis. It deeply angered me and I started to fear that it could be my sons or even me one day. Leaving home alone began to frighten me.

I can’t pretend other people know my hurt and pain being raised and living in this country because they do not live in my skin or have traveled the pathways that have made me who I am today. They mostly know about this country’s troubled past through the pathways that they’ve traveled and to be honest many don’t believe what I am saying here is true because they don’t live with brown skin. Those who get it, get it, but I don’t owe anyone any explanations as to why I feel the way I feel. But I will tell you this, I have ZERO tolerance for the people that surround me to constantly judge me or my family for the way we live or how we feel about certain things going on around us. It’s just that simple.

Very recently I was told by someone when I was explaining just how happy I was and I felt this was one of my best summers I’ve had in a while, they in turn felt I was an unhappy person because I spoke often of the craziness and racism I was seeing in the world around me and not all of the amazing things that made me so happy. I was super shocked and angered by that! Just because I may tell them some things that happened that day that I wanted to vent about, I thought that I could trust they wouldn’t be judging me. Hmm, I was so wrong and it hurt. But as I laid in my bed that night, I got to thinking more about what was said. Even though I vent about the unpleasant things that may happen during any given day, I need to make sure I always lead with at least one good thing!

That thought gave me a great idea, which was to take a few minutes every day to stop and think about something good that may have happened and write it down. Even if your day totally sucks, you can dig down deep and find at least one itty bitty thing that was good. No matter what time of day you write it down, just make sure you keep writing one good thing. In time you will automatically begin to look for and think about the good and ultimately the bad won’t seem just too bad anymore!

From that point on, when I found that good, I dwelled on it, and felt so grateful. Now that this has become a habit, I’m finding that it’s not so easy to get caught up in all the negativity that I may encounter during my day. With all that being said, I am encouraging you search for the good because it’s definitely there. I am now going to challenge you find good in your day! To help you get started with tracking your one good thing, you can download my One Good Thing, One Line A Day Memory Journal!

Every day may not be good but there is something good in every day. That is why it is so important to capture and remember the good things that happen everyday. Doing so increases gratitude and inner peace. One of the best ways to do that is to write it down. Here’s a lovely 4 page printable spread to help you do just that! You can print out these beautifully designed pages and place them in your planner every month, or you can print out the pages and a new set each month in a binder! Whether you download these or not, the challenge is to keep manifesting good in your life!

If you’d like to download this journal, you can click the link down below!

One Good Thing, One Line A Day Memory Journal

Thank you so much for stopping by! See you soon!😊

xoxo,

💜Christina J.💜