Finding Gratitude In Six Feet

by Mike | Jun 29, 2020 | Connection, COVID, Gratitude, Inspiration

Six feet. About the size of the couch that you may be sitting on as you read this. It’s really not that far. Why is it then, that over the last few months, six feet has often felt a little more like six miles?

By now, we all know the guideline – stay at least six feet away from other people for the best chance of mitigating the spread of COVID-19. In theory, it makes sense.  Maintaining a distance of at least six feet from others will help to limit our opportunities of coming into contact with those that might be infected with the disease or spreading the virus to others.

So, yes, there is no doubt that this six-foot guideline keeps us safe during these uncertain times. At the same time, this guideline has impacted our personal lives in ways that are still hard to fathom. Six feet – we’ve all seen the stories and videos about family members visiting loved ones at nursing homes only to have that conversation take place through a glass window via a phone call. Six feet – we’ve all been craving the connection that comes from sitting around a table with friends at a restaurant. Six feet – we are all yearning for simple hugs from those family and friends that mean the world to us. Just six feet…that’s all.

Technology that allows us to jump on a FaceTime call with a friend or join a virtual family reunion via video conferencing tools has been a blessing over the last few months. Really, what would we do without it. However, even as awesome as that technology is, it really doesn’t enable the real and tangible connections that we have when sitting across the table from a friend at lunch or playing a board game with family members that we don’t get to see every day. As humans, we are wired for connection. We need it. It’s literally in our DNA – its as strong as our need for food, water, shelter and warmth. 

So, given that, we might ask ourselves – can we be grateful for a guideline that literally pulls us all away from each other physically, despite our physiological pre-disposed need for connectivity? While it might seem counterintuitive to say that we should be grateful for our current circumstances, perhaps we should be thankful for those six feet at the moment. 

Most importantly, they keep us, and others, safe as we navigate this pandemic. Further, for so many, those six feet have been somewhat of an eye opener for us. They have allowed us to focus our attention on those everyday things that we all too often take for granted. They have reminded us of the beautiful and ordinary things that we have in our lives that we might not have thought twice about even just a few short months ago.  They have reminded us about the small things – the things that, in reality, are the big things in our lives. For that, we should be grateful.  

As some of the restrictions start to ease over the coming months, those six feet have allowed us to approach the opportunities for connection with a whole new mindset.  Because of this perspective, we can look forward, with anticipation, to the conversation with our parents on their porch. We can more genuinely appreciate the upcoming family birthday parties that will be filled with joy and laughter. We can be grateful for the chance to sit in the stands watching a baseball game with a grandparent.  We can more deeply appreciate the love from a friend that comes through a simple hug.   

There is a song that was recently released by Luke Combs called “Six Feet Apart”.  The song closes with the words “There will be light after dark, someday when we aren’t six feet apart”. That day will come. There will be light after the dark. While these have been unprecedented times, the lessons we have learned along the way, by those six little feet, are lessons that we can always remember with a deep sense of gratitude.

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Mike Good, creator of The Gratitude Spark, resides in Chaska, MN. He is passionate about living life through the lens of gratitude and helping individuals and organizations spark incredible positive change through the power of a grateful mindset.  If you’re interested in learning more about the power of gratitude and how it can help to spark a change in your life and in the lives of those around you, feel free to contact Mike via email at mike@thegratitudespark.com.  You can also check us out online at www.TheGratitudeSpark.com on Instagram at @thegratitudespark or join our Facebook community called the “The Gratitude Spark“.  

Goodness in a Global Pandemic?

by Mike | May 7, 2020 | Connection, COVID, Gratitude, Inspiration

Take a moment and think back to December 31, 2019. It’s really not all that long ago.  What were you doing?  What were you feeling?  For many, we were all wrapping up the holiday season and looking forward, with anticipation, to the newness that would come in 2020.  Little did we know that “newness” would come in the form of a global pandemic that would change our world in ways we couldn’t imagine.  

So far, in 2020, it almost feels like the whole world has been turned upside down – as if someone took the little floating ball we live on and gave it a good shake. As we have searched for our new “normal” (whatever that might be these days), we have been forced to learn what this new life looks like and with that, how we might start adjusting to the changes that come our way due to COVID-19. We have learned what is means to distance ourselves from others. Some of us have had to learn new strategies with respect to working from home. Sadly, many of us have had to learn the process of filing for unemployment and many of us have had to learn how to deal with new levels of anxiety. 

It is no secret that our lives have changed, and as is often the case, change can be difficult. With all of these new things happening in our lives over the last couple months, it’s very easy to get bogged down by thoughts of negativity, and unfortunately, negative thought have a tendency to ripple.  It may seem like there is nothing ‘good’ happening in the world. Just look at the news or jump online – all we see is the rising death count, the rising unemployment numbers, and a collective anxiety among health care workers and governmental officials. With that focus, it is easy to let that ripple of negativity grow. We all see it, we all feel it, probably in ways that we’ve not experienced negativity before.  It is, in a word, scary. But, luckily for us, it doesn’t have to be that way.  Positivity also has a ripple effect. It just takes an intentional focus on goodness.  So, with that, let’s pause.  Let’s slow down.  Let’s look around.  Let’s notice things.  There IS goodness in our world.  In fact, it’s all around us.  Despite a global pandemic and one of the scariest times in recent history, there is good happening. If we just take a moment to pause, we’ll find it.  

For example, this virus has shown us how interconnected we really are in our world.  It has, quite literally, brought us closer together even though we are physically distancing ourselves from one another. We can communicate via phone, text, email and other technologies that allow us to connect with our friends and family from anywhere in the world. We have seen the images from Italy and New York of spontaneous music and singing from resident’s balconies. We have seen the images of crowds of people honking their horns out of respect for health-care workers as they leave their shift for some well-deserved rest. We have seen neighbors helping neighbors by dropping off groceries for those that can’t get to the grocery store.  We have been able to truly connect with family members on a much deeper level. Heck, families across the world have probably successfully completed more puzzles together than at any other time in our history.  

This pandemic has brought countless changes to our lives.  Changes that have forced us to live differently.  Changes that have made it easier to focus on negativity.  The start of 2020 has been anything but normal.  It took a global pandemic to bring the world together against a common enemy.  But, when do we get that kind of opportunity?  Be grateful for the chance to realize the goodness that is happening all over our world. Know that it’s everywhere. Also know that it’s there not only to find, it’s also there to create.