The recent U.S. Presidential Campaign stirred up the country in an unprecedented way. Whether you watched, participated in, or avoided it, practically everyone was swept up in the hope of a World changing for the better. Hope is great (certainly better than not having any at all), but it won’t get the job done on its own.
It dawned on me that the frequent, compelling, nagging feeling I get to make some kind of difference in the world has been even more frequently squelched by the terror of the sheer immensity of the task. I mean, really, change the World? As it is, I barely have enough energy left at the end of the day to change the channels… but, somehow, almost miraculously, I seem to muster enough to at least distract myself into a temporary state of blissful, beautiful, backlit LCD denial that lasts long enough to convince me it’s too late to do anything tonight, anyway.
The real shocker was this: while I really do want to broaden my part in making this world a better place, I’d really prefer that it not be too uncomfortable or inconvenient. Yikes. Am I as selfish as that sounds? or just human? or both?
Okay, now, I don’t feel this way all the time (thankfully), but it certainly pops up often enough to notice that it weighs in unpleasantly heavy far more often than not. Wow. Making a difference was turning out to be different than what I imagined, in that I had to start with changing my mind about what it takes to change the world.
Change can be daunting, usually because it means something will be different. If it turned out the same, it wouldn’t be change. For a real headache, consider that change may the only constant in the observable universe. But the newsflash is in: Science has proven that the universe is made up of an unfathomable number of virtually unobservable, imperceptibly discreet movements — teeny, tiny changes — that aggregate into a galactic-scale difference.
Honestly, I get it: everyone is busy. Some more than others (okay, so if you’ve found your way here, maybe you’re not so busy). Perhaps some of this sounds familiar: throughout the day, moments are filled with anticipating the next task, event, obligation; barely getting through the task at hand before multitasking efficiently on to the next actionable item. New items and opportunities squeeze their way into the schedule and the dance card is getting crowded, but the flurry of activity is exciting and exhausting at the same time.
Now here’s the thing: between the time you start and end your day, you likely have interacted with some of the rest of us who live here, too. Here in the world. The one in which your bubble (and mine, and everyone else’s) is an integral part. In most cases, no one is out to thwart your efforts to get on to the next thing. In fact, they’re probably just as frustrated and harried by the whole experience as you are.
So, where to begin? Tackling it all is too much, and although what I’ve been doing has helped up to now, I’d like to dial up my efforts where I can. Even if it’s just a few seconds here and there. Starting to get the idea?
No matter how full my day is, in the course of getting it all executed and performed and delivered, etc., I can take a moment or two, a few seconds, at least, to have a kind word of salutation or well-wishing for the other humans in my way…er, I mean, in my day.
Thus was born 60secondsaday.com. A place where suggestions, reminders, and the like of simple, little, even discreet things that can not only ease the human relations of the day, but maybe even add something to someone else’s day.
Surely, someone must have come up with this catchy title already. Gee, it’s so