What is Your "One Thing?"

Hello Gold Star Revolution Squad! I am finally back after a lengthy break!

Hopefully this time I will be back to stay. Buuuut, I didn't do much in terms of writing new posts in the time that I was away. So I know that it won't be easy to keep up with my twice-a-week posting schedule.

I will be honest with you – I contemplated throwing in the towel and giving up on Gold Star Revolution while I was on break. I'm just not that good at SEO and social media, and I don't have money to spend on marketing this project, so Gold Star isn't getting noticed the way that I hoped it would. I have spent a lot of time on something that is being read by very few people.

As I debated back and forth on the decision about whether to quit, I remembered an email that I had received many years ago from Cheri Huber, a Zen Buddhist teacher. The email made such an impression on me that I kept it for well over a decade.

This is an extensive quote from that email I received:

“Now is the time ‘to be the change we wish to see in the world.’ Now is not the time to see how other people are not being that change. Yes, it can give a little feeling of power to rant about how wrong-headed we think other people are, but right now we need all the strength we have at our disposal to support what we know is possible, rather than letting that energy be siphoned off by negativity. I offer the Onething Revolution as a perfect step in the direction of possibility.

As I tell you at each opportunity, the quality of our lives is determined by the focus of our attention. We must turn our attention to that which, from the lovingkindness and generosity of spirit that is our authentic nature, we choose for ourselves, for one another, and for this beautiful planet we call home. We must give the good wishes of the greatest good within us all the support, strength, attention, awareness, energy, and effort we can muster.

Enter the Onething Revolution:

If you could do one thing that would

change your mind

change your attitude

change your day

change your life

change the world

…what would you do?

Wondering what that one thing might be?

The answer is amazingly simple. That Onething is whatever you want it to be.

Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, each and every moment of the day there is one thing you can do to honor life, one thing that will honor you and the world you live in. It might be using cloth bags at the grocery store, not driving one day a week, reading a story to a child, or smiling at a stranger. We live in one world. Nothing can happen to you that doesn’t happen to me. Nothing can happen to them that doesn’t happen to us. For better or worse, we are in this together. Let’s make it better.”

I'm not sure what made me think of this email, but once I remembered it, I knew that I could not give up on this project right now. My Onething is to encourage myself and others to appreciate all of the good that there is in life. To motivate people to change their focus from one of negativity to one of love. To share my love of appreciation with the world!!

It won't always be easy to move forward. I know I won't always feel inspired to write. I might write posts that no one will read, which will likely sap my motivation. But I do believe that this project is important, and I have to do what I can to try to make the world a better place, even if I only reach a small number of people.

I still hope to post twice a week, and I also hope to be able to continue to announce a Star of the Week on Fridays.

I do plan on changing Tuesdays up a bit. My original plan was that on Tune Up Tuesdays, we would work on adjusting our thoughts and actions so that we can SHINE our gold star light as much as possible and award as many gold stars to ourselves and others as we can!

But I have been feeling a bit boxed in by this limitation that I placed on myself. So now on Tuesdays I plan to just write about whatever is inspiring me at the time! I also hope to add a new component to some of my Tuesday posts, but I'm not going to tell you what it is just yet in case it doesn't work out!!

I will end this now, but I encourage you to think about your "Onething." This Onething doesn't have to be the same thing for forever! It could be your Onething for the next month, or the next six months, or for however long you feel inspired to continue with it. If you come up with something, I would be thrilled if you would tell me about it in the comments!

I'm happy to be back! Even though I'm not a very big Star Wars fan, I still have fun saying May the 4th be with you!! Until Friday, dear readers, have a great week!