Two years ago I began writing my first book co-authored alongside my close friend Tanya Rad. We started this process in midst of a global pandemic. This, of course, was a time that held a lot of darkness and unrest around all around the world. During those times, Tanya and I found ourselves fully relying on our faith and our inner life. When we needed some hope and light— it was this inner strength that really held us up. We wanted to share our own experiences of hope in order to leave others feeling less alone. We know exactly what it feels like to need hope in the midst of really hard times. It isn’t always easy to find the good or remain positive when life gets hard, but we work at it because we believe it’s important— and we want to encourage others to do the very same.
After much thought, we landed on our book title: The Sunshine Mind. You might be asking yourself what does it mean to live with a Sunshine Mindset? Tanya and I see this as a daily practice. Not a formula or a quick fix, but rather the way we go about our life each day. This looks like many little things along the way, but some that we have talked about are— choosing to forgive instead of retaliating, taking disappointments as lessons learned, and finding hope in the midst of hard days. Facing challenges is part of the human experience, but we believe that when we prioritize our inner life and strengthen this that is deep down, we are able to develop this Sunshine Mindset. We have found that, when our inner life is strong, good things pull us toward gratitude. Whether it be a new job opportunity, a promotion, or any other bit of good news— we are grateful and humbled by these gifts rather than having an inflated sense of self. When hard times come, it is the spirit that sustains us. And everything in between, even in the most mundane of moments it is the spirit that fills us with awe and inspiration. Living from a centered place gives us the strength to handle anything that comes our way.
We would love to hear what the sunshine mindset looks like for you. When the days feel hard, what is it that helps you get back up?
What keeps you lifted up and light might just be helpful for someone else, so please share.