It's been a little over a year since I first walked on to Hawk Hill as a newly-hatched Hawk. A lot has changed since then, but it all started with being a participant in PSIP, which is the Philadelphia Service Immersion Program. And I'd like to share just a section of a talk I gave as a leader for PSIP this year, inspired by the works of Og Mandino and Viktor Frankl. It's not verbatim what I said on the night of (I've edited it for the purposes of this "article") but it's close enough. Consider it just a reflection of transitioning to a new home, or perhaps a recommendation on how to do better by yourself. Enjoy!
"Always will I bathe my days in the golden glow of enthusiasm." - Og Mandino
When I first got here to St. Joes, I had no idea what I was doing. The night before I left I had a BBQ with 6 of my closest friends, and all of a sudden I’m living in a state I had only been to twice before. I found myself becoming quickly overwhelmed by the work. And, when I did have free time, late at night, I would just go on walks throughout campus, alone. And those walks were not moments of solitude in which I re-centered myself and found inner peace. I wasn’t counting my blessings, but drowning in my sorrows.
But, then I took up a habit, an amazing habit. I actually adopted it from an incredibly remarkable girl in my PSIP reflection group. While she and I disagreed quite heavily during reflections (especially on the topics of Spirituality and Religion) we both agreed that this habit could work wonders. So I started writing down three gratitudes every day. It was so simple and so difficult all at the same time.
It can be just a few words. And it isn’t all about writing, after a particularly bad day, “Well, at least I’m not dead!” (although I've found myself writing that more than once in the past year). It’s about overcoming the default setting we all have that tells us that our blessings aren’t worth counting.
Sometimes happiness isn't about the journey or the destination. Sometimes happiness is just about looking deeper into your current state with a more intentional lens, filtered by the choice to be grateful.Whether it's nature or it's nurture is not the point; the point is that when we do not stay conscious to the blessings in our lives, they fade in to the background. There are always blessings, and they are always worthy of a place in the foreground of our minds and hearts.
Blessings whisper sweetly, sorrows scream maddeningly.
When we stay conscious to the things we can be grateful for, we enable our greatest freedom; the ability to choose how we respond to situations. Things may spiral out of control, but the last freedom we all have is the freedom to respond to a situation in a way that will enable our growth. It may take time but, always, at some point, we have the choice to transcend our suffering and grow, or drown in it.
"Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and the shadows will fall behind you." - Walt Whitman
