Monday Mindfulness Minutes: Are you seeing 0s or Os?

CALL ME! NOW!

When you get this text from a family member, especially your mom, it's easy to let your mind immediately descend into the rabbit hole of thought. "Did someone die?" "Did the House burn down?" "Is there an impending zombie apocalypse?" Fortunately, I'd gotten enough texts like these from my mom over the years, so I paused before panicking.

It seemed like the phone didn't ring once before she answered, "I just can't believe it! I work so hard with your brother to help him make good grades in school, and he can't even do well in gym. He brought home his report card today, and he has a ZERO in gym. A ZERO! Can you believe that? How do you even get a 0?!?!?!?"

By this point in my life, I had worked with my thoughts and emotions enough to know better than to believe whatever presented itself first, so I listened patiently as she presented her case. While staying centered as I listened, my mind flashed to my middle school gym days, and it hit me.

"Mom, are you sure it's a 0?"

"What do you mean, am I sure? I'm looking right at it!"

"What if it's not a zero? What if it's an "O"?

The other end of the line suddenly got quiet. Sure enough, my mom checked with his teacher, and that's exactly what it was - my brother's gym class wasn't graded on a numeric rubric, but a simple Unsatisfactory/Satisfactory/Outstanding grading scale - he had earned the highest mark possible.

I don't share this story to slam my mom or her perspective; if anything, it serves as an important (and humorous) reminder to CONSTANTLY question how we look at situations. We have an abundance of opportunities every day to step back from our normal way of looking at life, which usually includes a bunch of dead ends (0s). Dead-end living is when we go with the first thought/emotion that we experience, without taking a pause to step back to imagine other possibilities.

Let's try to stand back and get a wider perspective on situations this week and see if we notice anything different. The quality of our life is not determined by what's outside, but by our perspective of it. It's up to us to see a life of 0s or a life of Os.