Battling Blindness

It’s hard to spend much time out in public without seeing someone struggling with a disability. Whether it’s a physical handicap like paralysis in an appendage or a mental limitation such as a chromosomal disorder, when I experience someone struggling with a disability, there is a significant emotional response and I can feel an immediate tug at my heart. I also tend to feel helplessness in not being able to relieve that person of their struggle. I wish I had a cure.

I remember a very specific time when I was about three or four years old at a basketball game. The game had ended and there was a boy just a few years older than me coming down the steps from above me using a cane. But instead of using the cane to brace his weight, he was moving it back and forth, gently tapping the steps as he came down. “What is he doing with that stick?” I asked my mom. “He is using that cane to feel his way down the steps,” She answered. “That boy is blind, Chad.”

That last phrase cut me to my soul. Even as I write this, three and a half decades later, I still vividly remember that moment and the flood of emotions that overcame me. I was devastated for that boy. My heart was crushed to think of him going through life without sight, vulnerable and not being able to experience life the way I could. I realized he had been sitting behind me for the last couple hours and hadn’t been able to see a second of the game.

Tragically, there’s a disability that I believe is more debilitating than any of these. Pessimism and negativity cause a blindness far more devastating than losing sight. The “doom and gloom” perspective afflicting so many people cause them to be blinded to all the good around them and they miss the beauty in their lives because ugliness has taken over their vision. They are crippled by focusing on only what is going poorly, and the blessings slip by unnoticed. They miss the game being played out before them, never fully experiencing the wonderful performances displayed in front of their veiled minds.

However, there is a bright spot here. While there may not be a cure for many physical and mental disabilities, pessimism and negativity are completely treatable. With regular doses of gratitude – being intentionally thankful for all the good in your life – the doom and gloom will start to melt away. Start each day with gratitude and keep it up throughout the day. Unlike other medications, this one is impossible to overdose, but I dare you to try.

Comments

Toxic Humility

We have all seen false humility: the guy who tries to hide his arrogance with feigned modesty. It’s usually pretty obvious and always obnoxious. But there is also another variation of false humility out there: toxic humility. This is often displayed in self-deprecating talk and a lack of self-confidence, belittling or undermining one’s own talents and abilities. The danger in this kind of behavior is twofold: it is too often accepted as true humility and like a virus, it spreads doubt and disbelief. To clarify, it is not that the bearer of this toxic humility isn’t honest about his view of himself. That is the very issue: he absolutely believes he has little value or utility. He thinks downplaying his own worth is humility but I disagree. CS Lewis said it best when he wrote, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking about yourself less.” His point being, true humility is not an ever-present raincloud of self-doubt that follows you around. It’s a focus on

Primed for Progress

Just as some pumps need to be primed to work effectively, our lives need to be “primed” to flow efficiently. Good mornings and productive days don’t happen by accident, and by “priming” your day, you can set yourself up for better results. Does it mean you won’t have bad days? Of course not, but it’s making your day happen instead of just waiting for what happens. Once again, it’s a choice of being proactive rather than reactive. You will still have challenges and difficulties, but how you face those hurdles and respond to the struggles will be different with a primed mindset. I am sure there are many ways to prime your day and set the tone for the hours ahead, and what works for one won’t necessarily work for all. However, the process of creating a plan or a model of how things should unfold is a great place for anyone to start. Also, as I have mentioned before, how you actually start the morning is critical - the battle with the alarm clock is your first chance at victory for

Flower Among Thorns

About six or seven years ago, my wife was around three months pregnant as we eagerly anticipated the birth of another child. One night, as I lay sleeping, I had a dream that our baby was born. It was a beautiful little girl with thin, wispy hair and large, bright eyes punctuating her beautiful face. I held her proudly in my arms and stared down at this precious little creation. I carefully handed her off to her older brother, who was just a toddler himself, as he sat on the coach, arms outstretched, anxiously awaiting the chance to hold his baby sister. I helped him prop up a pillow underneath his little arms to help support my daughter and then stepped back to take in the amazing sight as he gazed down at her with both pride and amazement in his eyes. As I stood there watching them, the dream quickly faded. When I woke up, my eyes met the tearful glance of my wife. “I’m bleeding,” she said as she fought back the emotions, “I think I am miscarrying.” Those words sunk deeply i

Mindset Matters

Search This Blog