#1 Catching your wins

What does it mean to catch your wins? What is it I am setting out to do in these next two weeks? What instantly comes to mind is a scene from Shrek 2. There is a scene early on in the movie where the two main characters, Shrek and Fiona, go on their honeymoon. They embrace their ogrish nature by bathing in a bath of mud. As they sit there enjoying themselves, they catch fairies and keep them in glass jars. The glow of these magical creatures creates a sort of romantic light for the couple, and the picture is stuck in my head for this series. Let me explain why. 

We all go through dark times. It’s a part of life. But I feel as though we rarely spend any time preparing for those bad things we all know are coming. And I’m not necessarily just talking about the really traumatic things, like the death of a loved one or getting into a car accident. Although those things are important, I am thinking in far  broader terms. I believe we need to develop strategies to stay positive every day of our lives. I think this is why I have seen people in manual labor jobs act far happier than people in cozy, comfortable office environments. 

Positivity is a weapon, and if we don’t learn to use it, we will lose it. We must learn to wield it or we will be left defenseless, being defeated by negativity every time it swings to strike. I believe we need to make a conscious effort to be positive, happy, playful and joyful, for us to actually lead a good life. Many live with the expectation that positivity will simply fall into our laps one day. We act like positivity will come and go, much like the cycle of the seasons. 

The problem with this mindset is that it’s false. True, some days will be more fortunate than others, and you may have times where good things happen to you. But if you don’t learn to seize positivity, those good days will be mere breadcrumbs of happiness, instead of the loaves of joy they could have been. We need to start taking control of the process so that we can see real results in our lives. 

As I have been pitching this series to friends and family, my elevator-pitch explanation has been to say that this will be a series of the disciplines of joy. Although that is true, I want it to be that and so much more! I want to provide some tangible, concrete ways to get the genuine belly-laughter started when it isn’t coming naturally. Of course, this is still me, so there will still be some deep, insightful remarks sprinkled in as well. But I want to highlight some of the things that have worked for me to keep me light-hearted. I will then be trying to expand them into rules that you can play around with so that you, too can benefit from what I have learned. Ultimately, I want to get you laughing more and dealing with those tense situations in a more light-hearted way. 

I’m also going to be stretching myself to try to be a little goofier. I’ve been inspired by my roommate to test the limits of my writing by getting silly. If some of these attempts don’t keep to my high quality standards, I do apologize. But sometimes stumbling is a part of growth, and grow I shall! 

I’m looking forward to going on this adventure with you. The need to write this series has been cropping up all over my life lately, in a way that can only be explained by my belief that God has His mighty hand on this. And when God gets involved, exciting things happen. I am expecting magical moments from this series, and I simply can’t wait to see what unfolds!

And so, without further adieu, we shall begin this new adventure! I’ll see you on the road!