Mayfield: Long, lazy summer days let me appreciate all the joy

Wow. It has been a week, and it’s only Thursday.

So get a little closer and turn up the volume a little because I have something really important to play for you.

[insert bird sound]

More from Travis Mayfield: Now is the perfect time to build Sue Bird a statue

Ok, you can turn the volume back down because I am going to talk for a few seconds.

I recorded those birds earlier today at 4:30 a.m. standing on the sidewalk right in front of my house here in Seattle, and I felt so much better for having stood and just listened that I wanted to share that with you.

I’ve been having so many stressful conversations this week about the state of our world. I’ve been feeling helpless in the face of much of it.

And yet there is so much to find joyful out there.

• Gathering with friends in a city park last night at twilight to sit and talk while the kids ran, ran, and ran. Playing their own games of imagination and ingenuity with no screens in sight.
• Feeling the freshness of the air and the comfort of the weather here in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.
• Reading new books with new ideas and new experiences.
• Holding my kids’ hands while walking home from school.

I could go on and on, and I will, all day. I invite you to do it too. Make a list of the things, big or small, where you see joy and hope. See if you can keep adding to the list throughout the day. Maybe tell someone at work or at home or school about what you are doing and see if they’d make a list too.

Why not start right now? I’ll play those bird sounds again for a few seconds to clear your mind, and then out loud, promise me you’ll say the first thing that comes to your mind that you are grateful for. Ready, go.

[insert bird sound]

Now do that for the rest of the day, okay?

Listen to Seattle’s Morning News with Dave Ross and Colleen O’Brien weekday mornings from 5 – 9 a.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.