For several months now I’ve been doing a “Links for the Weekend” post every Friday.  But, well, I don’t want to do that anymore.  I don’t want to feel compelled to put this list of random things together every Friday.  What I’d rather do is share interesting links that I come across in my Internet travels either on Facebook or Twitter and use this space for something, well, more inspiring.

This week two posts that I came across on the Internet inspired me:  one called Things I’m Afraid to Tell You, about transparency in blogging, and another from Karen about the top 10 ways to put more good out into the world.

First, I read several of the Things I’m Afriad to Tell You posts and I thought, this is great.  These women are brave and authentic and shattering the myths of perfection you see online.  As a blogger I certainly know that what you read on any blog is an edited version of reality.  People never share everything, they share only what they want you to see.  Some people share more than others but there’s always something they hold back for themselves.  I do that too.  Our life isn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination.  I have dishes and laundry that are never done, beds that aren’t made.  I procrastinate and care WAY too much about what other people think of me and sometimes it’s paralyzing.

But as I was writing up my own Things I’m Afraid to Tell You post a little lightbulb went off in my head and I remembered Karen’s post about positivity.  Because it seemed like all I was doing was putting together a list of negative things about myself and I realized I didn’t want to do this.  Did I really want to write a post about all the things that aren’t perfect in our life?  Isn’t that just giving those things more power over me than they already have?  Because here’s the thing, ask me to come up with all the things I don’t like about myself, no problem.  But ask me to come up with a list of the things I do like, things that I’m grateful for, well that’s really hard.  As Karen says:

Our ability to look at the negative, if exercised like a muscle, gets stronger and more robust, to the point where all we can see is negative.

So instead, I want to put more good out in the world.  What am I grateful for this week?  Well,

• I’m grateful that I have sweaters that are stretched out and have holes in them.  Holes created by one amazing little man who has pulled and tugged on them a little too much.
• I’m grateful that yesterday we got some good news from a doctor for a change.
• And I’m grateful that I have family who love and support me.

The best lesson I’ve taken away from Things I’m Afriad to Tell You is that “comparison is the thief of joy.”  It’s way too easy to get caught up in comparing yourself to others either online or in real life and thinking that someone else always has it better than you.  I am terrible at this.  But, while there are beautiful things “out there” that might inspire us, it’s recognizing the beauty within us that is the first step in being more positive.  And, I’m going to try to remind myself of that every day.  Maybe I’ll do it with words, maybe with images, but I’ll remember that everyday there is always at least one good thing.

Finally, I’ll leave you with this brilliant and entertaining video about how positive thinking can change your whole outlook on life.