HELLO FRIENDS!!!
When I was designing our website I wanted to write a piece that was all of me and my beliefs. My standards, my core beliefs and most importantly some WE statements because really we are all in this together.
So I wrote my heart and soul out and after a few rounds of edits got it down to this: The Gratitude Gospel
As with anything I am building and breathing life into, it needed a good name. So with that – The Gratitude Gospel was written. The word gospel literally means “the good news.”
I want to share more about it here. Every couple of weeks I will write more about each line, where it came from and why it means so much to me.
As simply stated in the first line:
I believe… in the good of people
I do, my friends, believe in the good of people. We all have an inner light that shines. Some folks seem to burn a little brighter than others but deep down we all have that light. Once I shifted focus to realize how much we are all just human beings trying to do our best, I noticed the little frustrations melting away. Things like waiting in a long line that isn’t moving faster didn’t bug me anymore. Once I realized that folks are good and everyone deep down wants the best for one another, health, safety, overall joy and how precious each and every human being is, life was easier and more joyful.
This shift in perception didn’t happen overnight. Like any new thing you are trying to learn, from seeing the good in people to eating more vegetables, the more you do it the more that it sticks. By moving in this direction, having this shift, when someone is in a very negative-no good-not enough space, I can catch myself and help support them in a new way. The old Rachel would have taken it personally or felt attacked even though I wasn’t part of the issue. They, just like me, have bad days and good days, so it feels so much better when I see them with kindness instead of negativity.
Think about the last person who drove you crazy. What was it about the interaction that drove you crazy? Now, what if you thought about how good this person is and how this person also just wants a good outcome. Can you think through the situation again to change the overall outcome?
What if each of us is doing the very best we can with the tools and experience we have? Can you extend a little grace, an olive branch?
In Gratitude,
Rachel
P.S. I am sure you have seen these fun brand manifestos and mission statements that folks and companies have been writing lately with a little more depth of feeling and motivation. I had so much fun developing mine. I really really love this mission statement from Darling Media. Check it out!