Last Sunday, as the greeter at our church, I asked people as they walked in what their one word of the day was. Most were puzzled, so I repeated the question, “If you had one word to describe today, what would it be?”
It’s an intriguing question because it quickly forces you to dig into your mindset. How do you feel? What are you thinking? What has struck you as different, odd, impressive, bad or ugly to start your day?
My informal polling revealed four responses, exactly evenly divided between the 12 total quizzed. Three said “cold,” 3 said “chilly,” 3 said “sunny,” and 3 said “early.” All made sense.
It was “cold” outside, unseasonably, but not necessarily out of the norm for March in southeastern Wisconsin. “Chilly” was just another descriptive word for cold, so we could lump those together. “Sunny” was descriptive, as a brilliant sun shone on the day. And finally, those who said “early,” were likely reflecting on the fact that it was daylight savings and the first morning after moving their clocks forward, so they had to get up earlier than usual on their biorhythm clock.
What’s striking is how one word defines an attitude. Some people walked in braced for the cold, holding their bodies tightly, letting the weather affect them in a negative sense.
Those choosing “sunny” made me pause. They were looking at the brighter side of life, the shine of the day, embracing the brilliance of the light.
“Early” word choosers just wanted to go back to bed. The time change broke their routine, and they weren’t ready for it yet. Maybe this week they will be.
Choosing one word to describe your day says a lot about us. We wake up with a choice on how to attack or hide from the day. We can put our best foot forward, smiling, laughing, opening ourselves to others. Or we can snarl, choose vindictiveness, hatred and finger-pointing.
Most of us make that choice in a subconscious manner every day. We have our set routines that play into it. If the routine gets broken, that can send us from a good mood to an ugly one or vice versa.
Last week, our dogs got skunked within two minutes of me walking with them up our driveway. Two good-sized trees had blown across at the end of our driveway, blocking the exit for our cars. I’d woken that morning in a normal decent mood, and suddenly I’m heading back to the house to hose down the dogs with vinegar and try to figure out how to navigate around the fallen trees.
The incidents didn’t wreck my day, but they changed my one word from a normal motivated positive outlook to one of irritation until I worked the BS out of my system. We all do this daily.
How do you see your day when you wake up? Have you ever tried to place a one word description to it? “Excited?” “Determined?” “Bewildered?” “Wide-Eyed?” “Windy?” “Bored?” “Brooding?”
Funny, but it’s the little things that often affect our outlook. Weather is one. Something unexpected like a dog sniffing a skunk is another. Anything that takes you significantly outside your norm changes that one word outlook on life.
Our dad used the word “super” frequently when responding to questions on how he was doing. I love it. I respond to emails often and to others face-to-face now with “super” when they ask how I’m doing. Try it. See how it makes you feel.
Is today chilly, sunny or early? Choose your word wisely.
It’s an intriguing question because it quickly forces you to dig into your mindset. How do you feel? What are you thinking? What has struck you as different, odd, impressive, bad or ugly to start your day?
My informal polling revealed four responses, exactly evenly divided between the 12 total quizzed. Three said “cold,” 3 said “chilly,” 3 said “sunny,” and 3 said “early.” All made sense.
It was “cold” outside, unseasonably, but not necessarily out of the norm for March in southeastern Wisconsin. “Chilly” was just another descriptive word for cold, so we could lump those together. “Sunny” was descriptive, as a brilliant sun shone on the day. And finally, those who said “early,” were likely reflecting on the fact that it was daylight savings and the first morning after moving their clocks forward, so they had to get up earlier than usual on their biorhythm clock.
What’s striking is how one word defines an attitude. Some people walked in braced for the cold, holding their bodies tightly, letting the weather affect them in a negative sense.
Those choosing “sunny” made me pause. They were looking at the brighter side of life, the shine of the day, embracing the brilliance of the light.
“Early” word choosers just wanted to go back to bed. The time change broke their routine, and they weren’t ready for it yet. Maybe this week they will be.
Choosing one word to describe your day says a lot about us. We wake up with a choice on how to attack or hide from the day. We can put our best foot forward, smiling, laughing, opening ourselves to others. Or we can snarl, choose vindictiveness, hatred and finger-pointing.
Most of us make that choice in a subconscious manner every day. We have our set routines that play into it. If the routine gets broken, that can send us from a good mood to an ugly one or vice versa.
Last week, our dogs got skunked within two minutes of me walking with them up our driveway. Two good-sized trees had blown across at the end of our driveway, blocking the exit for our cars. I’d woken that morning in a normal decent mood, and suddenly I’m heading back to the house to hose down the dogs with vinegar and try to figure out how to navigate around the fallen trees.
The incidents didn’t wreck my day, but they changed my one word from a normal motivated positive outlook to one of irritation until I worked the BS out of my system. We all do this daily.
How do you see your day when you wake up? Have you ever tried to place a one word description to it? “Excited?” “Determined?” “Bewildered?” “Wide-Eyed?” “Windy?” “Bored?” “Brooding?”
Funny, but it’s the little things that often affect our outlook. Weather is one. Something unexpected like a dog sniffing a skunk is another. Anything that takes you significantly outside your norm changes that one word outlook on life.
Our dad used the word “super” frequently when responding to questions on how he was doing. I love it. I respond to emails often and to others face-to-face now with “super” when they ask how I’m doing. Try it. See how it makes you feel.
Is today chilly, sunny or early? Choose your word wisely.
