One Million Good Things

A list of all that is good right now at this very moment

Hello! I’ve got something to get off my chest. I’ve been spiraling down the dark corners of the web that feed me all of the awful things and this has been going on for weeks. I’ve been practicing letting my phone literally die so I can’t use it. It’s been healthy. On the other hand I’ve been thinking about this idea that so many good and even neutral things happen around us at any given time so I am going to exercise that idea. It’s a dose of what I need. So take it if you want to, leave it if you don’t. The One Million Good Things of life. The things we do and don’t think about.

Boo’s new wake-me-up strategy is irresistible. He comes to the side of the bed wiggling his tail, and squishes his little face against my hand, which I’ve lifelessly slung over the edge of the bed as an invitation for him to squish his little face against it. It’s all great. Except for his eye infection. And he gave it to Yaya, too. So throughout the day, about half a dozen times, I’m cleaning both of their eyes with saline and hoping it’ll be better tomorrow. A minor inconvenience, but just something to think about every time their perfect little goopy eyes are puppeteering me.

Let’s just say life has one million moving parts. We’re probably aware of a fraction of a percent of these moving parts at any given time. In my reality, one of these moving parts is the care of Boo’s eyes. Another is the care of Yaya’s. My eyes are also in the mix. A few years ago, some floaters started to obscure my vision. When I mention this to a friend they’ll usually say “what are floaters?”. See, if you and I were to look at the same clear blue sky, you’d see a clear blue sky, and I’d see a sky filled with a bunch of fuzzy grey bits as if I’m looking through a bowl of soup. If you don’t know what an eye floater is, simply add this to the list of things you don’t know you need to be grateful for.

Rumsfeld said something like “there are the things you don’t know, and there are the things you don’t know you don’t know”. I think he was talking about war. But I’m talking about the good unknown unknowns. What I’m getting at is this: what if you look at life as if the majority of things are okay? Neutral at worst. Things you don’t have to think about, and if you did you might just feel relief from their current non-broken state. That might account for nine hundred thousand moving parts. And then there’s almost one hundred thousand things that bend the needle toward good. And of course, a couple baddies. Let me make you a pie chart.

I know that there’s privilege in this perspective. Some things are so awful they overshadow everything else. I have to acknowledge that. Maybe this could serve as a reminder to the moral responsibility of being the outreach to communities and peoples whose situation has no room to hold the good or even the neutral.

I’ve been trying to do that daily gratitude thing that everybody says is good for you. When I remember to, I write down three things I’m grateful for. I’m not a different person because of it, but it does allow me to expand on this list and to pause on something I might have taken for granted. It gives me an opportunity to appreciate a special moment I otherwise wouldn’t have appreciated quite as much.

You can fight me on this, but I’m of the belief that the list of good things is absolutely always exponentially longer than the list of things that aren’t. Of course, some of these list items weigh more heavily than others. Like, I can’t say “I have to file for bankruptcy but at least my headlights on my car work”. Well actually I can say that but I’m not sure it would help. Or maybe it would help, like just a little.

Anyway, you know when the vet asks you if your dogs are eating well and drinking well and if they seem healthy and you proudly profess “yep! Everything is great!” and suddenly you’re reminded that for this very moment everything is great. Answering “yes” to the vet’s health inquiry is such an absolute gift that should not be taken for granted.

Yaya and Boo’s eyes are all better now. They also don’t have broken nails or split pads. No ticks, no rashes, no hot spots, no itches. No twisted ankles or sore limbs. They’ve been well behaved lately. Their water bowl is full. I have not bit my tongue or burned the roof of my mouth. My knees don’t hurt. Neither do my elbows, or my wrists, or my back or neck or ankles or glutes. I don’t have a headache.

I have coffee to brew in the morning, a bananas for my smoothie, and a defrosted piece of lingcod to cook for dinner. The weather is pleasant, my truck starts, there is no mouse living in it, and the rear brakes and callipers and rotors are brand new and working great. I have a comfortable bed to sleep in. My sheets are clean. My duvet is warm. My door is open and I can hear the waves and the occasional splash from a mysterious sea mammal. And when I wake up, my dogs are there to greet me with big bright eyes and they squish their healthy little faces against my hand.

I’m not gonna tell you not to worry about the very big bad thing in your life. The slight inconvenience is easier to overlook than the impossibly bad thing. But I am gonna remind you that there are One Million Good Things. The silver lining doesn’t have any effect at all on the approaching storm. It really doesn’t. But the list of good things is simply... longer. And it’s always there.

One thing I’m sure of is that I can grip life’s sharp edges in one hand, and embrace the million good things in the other.

With love,

Andrew, Yaya, & Boo

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Pre-order my new children’s book Let’s Find Yaya & Boo On the Go! now! I’m trying to get to 2000 pre-orders and we’re just over 200 last time I checked.