I’m looking at another of my quote images for this article, and I hope you’re having a good day…
I took that photo down at Lyme Regis in Dorset. I had gone there to enjoy a couple of days, and drove down overnight specifically to try some sunrise photos around the landmark harbour wall there. Called The Cobb and featured in the film ‘The French Lieutenant’s Woman’, I hadn’t been there for at least 25 years, probably nearer 30, so was looking forward to it.
The sky was being nice, cloud wise, and although the sea was crashing a bit too hard over the wall to go right up on top as early as I’d wanted, I was still able to get some nice shots – the one I’m using this time around was at about 5 am.
That’s why I think it goes well with the words I put over the top…
Today’s a great day to have a great day!
I did say right at the start of this article that I hoped you were having a good day, and I meant it. I hope you’re having a great day actually – and why not!
Any day is a great day to have a great day, so why not today?
Now, before I go any further, it’s clear that many people will be rolling their eyes, tutting, and shaking their heads at the very idea.
They will put the thought of any day having the possibility of being a great day as typical personal development nonsense, claptrap that has no bearing on the real world – the real world that has chores and challenges, heartbreaks and heavy duty workloads, setbacks and stumbles.
I understand that.
I’m no spring chicken, so I’ve been around the block a few times. I know all about chores and challenges, heartbreak and heavy duty work, setbacks and stumbles.
I’ve had horrible days – *horrendous* days.
I’ve also had glorious days! Days full of joy, passion, wonder, uplift – days that lifted my soul, days that were Julie Andrews, sing it from the hilltops kind of days.
In other words, great days.
So have you. We all have.
They might be hard to remember in someone’s current circumstance, they might be set aside in the mind as only for special occasions, that apart from those planned occasions, that the rest of the days are drudges to get through, back to the challenges and problems.
No.
I say no, because there are 2 problems with that view…
Although there is nothing wrong with planning great things, the first problem with viewing great days as *only* happening when they are planned, or on the same days every year that society tells us, is that the expectation is forced.
We *demand* to have a great day, we might have spent a lot of time and a lot of money on the planning, so the day had better be as great as expected!
This is setting the day up to quite likely be *not* great! The expectation is too much, and it brings with it a comparison between the ‘normal’ days which creates a sense of falseness about the day.
The second problem with viewing great days as for only when we plan them, is that we are closing our minds off to the possibility of today…
This is the key point.
Yes, of course we can have great days that we plan for, because the very fact of planning means that we are scheduling in things we know we’ll enjoy, and that takes us back to our joys, our passions, whatever that means to us individually.
Let’s not forget though, the random great days! The days when something unexpected happened that lifted our soul. It could be something that a complete stranger does, or it could be a consequence of action we’ve set in flow ourselves previously.
It doesn’t even have to be something ‘happening’ for it to be a great day. Too often we get so caught up in our daily activity, we take for granted, and therefore fail to appreciate the wonders around us.
That could be a sunrise, (or of course a sunset!). It could be some open countryside, or just some grass beneath our feet. It could be taking a moment to appreciate the roof over our head, the food on our table, or how about the wonder of the abundant opportunity that the internet gives us? If you’re reading this then you have access to abundance, and it’s an opportunity there right now, today.
The great news about the point I’m making, is that it’s a mindset shift, and as such it’s something that anyone can do. I can make that shift, and so can you.
It might take practice, in fact it surely will if we’ve spent years training our brains to ignore the greatness around us, but if we set the intention to take on that practice, and to not give up at the first difficult day, then we’ll get better at it.
The appreciation of what’s already around us will start to become second nature.
As well as looking forward to the planned great days, and appreciating what’s around us right now, here’s another thing we can do – we can ask ourselves what we can do today to make it great?
Yes, looking to the future is fine, and getting on with today’s tasks is fine, but what can we actively do, or even just think about today, to make it great?
As with the mindset shift, this idea of driving parts of the day with intention takes practice and it can feel stilted and false at first. That’s ok. We need to stick with it, because those daily intentional efforts can work wonders to remind us of what we are moving towards, and what we already have.
We’ve had great days in the past.
We’ll surely have great days in the future.
What about today though – wouldn’t you agree, that after all, today’s a great day to have a great day!
Ok, I’d love to hear what you think – do leave a comment!
‘Til Next Time,
Health & Happiness,
Gordon
P.S. If you’d like to do more about setting up the great days ahead, and enjoying the great days right now then pop over and watch the free video series covering my 8 step goal achievement formula!
