Godwink - An occurrence so odd and out of the ordinary, it had to be put in place by God. A wink from God letting you know you're in the right direction.
Do you guys believe in Godwinks? The definition above is from the Urban Dictionary. I have always thought that Godwinks were pretty cool. Yesterday I had a HUGE one. HUGE! And it's got me ALL KINDS of inspired.
You know I've been in kind of a funk. Nothing bad, just a bunch of little things and drama and stress. Some of it is normal time-of-the-year stress. Some of it is raising-kids-is-hard stress. Some of it is I-don't-love-my-lob stress. Some is I'm-worried-about-a-lot stress. Some of it is I-want-my-kids-to-be-healthy stress. The variety has ebbed and flowed, but I've had a lot of anxiety recently.
So yesterday I was driving to the office and (if I'm being honest) feeling pretty sorry for myself for having to work and having to drive all the way to Buckhead. Based on the lack of traffic yesterday, most people were still home tucked in their warm beds. I was driving and listening to Christmas music and decided I needed to figure out a way out of my funk before the 2016 holiday season passed by completely without my participation.
I considered lots of options ranging from getting a massage TO drinking a bottle of wine TO keeping a bunch of cash with me to give to anyone I thought needed it TO making a cheesecake TO doing more shopping for my boys. I considered, and discarded, a BUNCH of ideas. (Aside - driving in the dark without much traffic listening to Christmas music is a good time to brainstorm.)
I settled on an idea that was shared at a conference I went to this fall. The idea was to keep a Gratitude Journal. The idea is simple. Every day you write down 1 thing (or 3 things or 5 things) that you are grateful to have in your life. No repeats.
Clearly with the "no repeats" rule, you have to get pretty specific. Ideally, you complete your gratitude journal entry before ever stepping foot on the floor in the morning. What better way to start the day?
The woman, an actress turned motivational speaker, who shared this idea (which admittedly isn't new) talked about how the simple act of recognizing there are things (lots of them) to be grateful about has a snowball effect on mood and motivation and - eventually - accomplishment. Back in September she had sold me that it was a great thing to do! They gave out cute pink journals as "swag" for the conference specifically for the purpose of a Gratitude Journal. I was fired up and ready to be thankful and happy and super productive. Then I left the conference and never opened the journal again.
I decided, however, on that lonely drive, that this Gratitude Journal was going to be IT for me. I was going to turn this into my new habit and make a commitment to doing it daily. It felt like the right thing to do and I was pumped up about it again.
Then I finished my drive, parked, walked, rode the elevator, got to my empty office, turned on the lights and saw a package on my desk. It was a gift from one of the vendors we work with. Nice. I opened that navy blue bag and nearly fell off my chair.
Inside that gift bag was a journal. With a pen.
Pretty clear Godwink if you ask me.
SO here's to Gratitude Journals and being thankful. I figure we are all going to have an awful lot to be thankful for over the next week as we celebrate Christmas and being with people we love. I'm gonna slow down, write in my journal, and fill myself up with love. Pretty good way to prep for a new year.
Merry (early) Christmas everyone! Have a blessed and safe holiday. And if you find yourself a little stressed, grab a pen and a cute journal. I'll let you know how mine is going after I have some time to get into the habit.
Cheers!
PS - picture is the gift I received on my desk with my calendar in front of it - just so you didn't think I made all this up. :)
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