Last week we talked about the reality that life has been a lot lately. And I walked you through three simple things that help me navigate those heavy seasons. This week we're going deeper into the first one: seeing the good.

I actually have those words on the wall behind my desk. See the good. I love that reminder every time I sit down to work because the truth is that our perspective is everything. Whatever we're focused on, that's exactly what we're going to find. If I'm looking for problems, I'll find them. If I'm looking for good, I'll find that too. It's the same reason why when you're shopping for a new car you suddenly start seeing that car everywhere.

So I want to train myself to look for the good — especially when there's so much that doesn't feel good.

But I want to be clear about something first. I am not asking you to deny that life is hard or pretend your feelings don't exist. Because gratitude becomes unhelpful when it's used to silence what hurts. When someone tells you to just be grateful or just focus on the positive, that can actually feel dismissive. It minimizes what you're going through as if there isn't room for the pain too.

What I want to invite you into is something different. Holding both at the same time.

You don't have to choose between acknowledging what's hard and noticing what's good. We can do both. We can say things like: this season is exhausting and there are still moments of beauty. I feel the grief and I'm grateful for the person walking with me. Things feel uncertain and I still see God's faithfulness. I'm struggling and I still laughed today.

Healing often happens when we stop forcing one truth to cancel out the other. The pain doesn't get the final say. It's not the entirety of the story.

Think about being on an airplane on a rainy day. The storm is real on the ground. But once you get above the clouds it's vibrant and sunny and beautiful. Seeing the good is knowing that the sun is still there even when you can't see it yet.

Here are three simple habits that help:

At the end of each day ask yourself one question: what was good today? Not amazing or spectacular. Just good. Then name three things that are also true right now. They can be as honest as: I'm tired, I'm loved, and I made it through. And then practice catching the small goodness around you. The sunlight coming through the window. A kind text. A moment of quiet. Laughter. Strength you didn't know you had.

Those three things together can be genuinely life-changing because they teach us to hold both at the same time and catch what we would otherwise miss.

And if you're in a really hard season and the good feels difficult to find, that's okay. Maybe your good today is that you got out of bed. That you asked someone for help. That you took it one breath at a time. Quiet good still counts.

Reflection questions for the week:

You don't have to deny what's hard in order to notice what's good. Hard is not the only thing here. And pain is not the end of the story.

Come back next week as we take the next step in this journey.