Day 7 - 31 -- Looking Up

The day began very early as the all day workshop starte at 8:30 AM.  The day was sunny and bright, so I was pleased to see the room we were to be ensconced in until 4:30 PM had a full bank of south facing windows. The workshop is for Mental Health First Aid training. The focus is on young adults, being offered through the health and counseling centre of campus, but the principles will cross adolescent, emerging adults, and adults of all ages. It was a long day, with some very difficult topics addressed this week. The second half will occur next week and will include a number of other topics -- all serious in nature, but somewhat less so than what we covered in great detail today.

I felt rather overwhelmed at the end of the workshop. Luckily, a friend had invited me out for pizza and wine with another friend. I was so tired I considered not going, but I headed out. We had great conversation about many topics. When getting ready to leave, I felt less stress from the workshop topics. I recalled walking down the sidewalk yesterday when I had to stand in a driveway as the sidewalk plow went by. The operator and I waved and smiled to each other. Getting back onto the sidewalk I encountered a woman walking a happy little beagle who had chosen to walk in the clean white snow beside the sidewalk instead of the newly cleared pavement. That gave me a big smile to see the dog enjoying the snow -- not something that I tend to do or feel <smile>. I was surprised when I noticed I was smiling and thought to myself, "Oh, there I am." This helped me to begin to find a way to look up instead of down more often. Finding the things that make me smile by looking around me instead of staring only inside myself might help reduce the less happy feelings that we carry around with us at times.

An upbeat song seemed to fit the end of day musings well. The artist is one featured here often. As a fellow keyboardist, I love his piano work as well as the songwriting and singing. Enjoy!

Looking Up -- Elton John