Little Things

Copyrighted by Lorna Tedder. Originally published in Third Degree Below.

I’m actively  working  on  all  sorts  of  little  things  to make my surroundings  more positive.  Some seem trite, but they all add up.

Before heading out to work today, I checked my email and started to run out of the house when I thought better of it. I actually went back to my computer.

See, the last email I read—the one I’d left showing in my preview screen because it was the last email the cursor was touching—was  from a disgruntled author (not affiliated in any way with Spilled Candy Books).  I  won’t call her a friend because she isn’t. In fact, I have very strong negative feelings  about  this  particular  person  and brief work we’ve done together. So, first of all, I was leaving an email  showing  from  someone  I  have  negative  feelings about. Just a glance at it made my upper lip curl in  distaste  because,  well,  that’s  what  happens  automatically when I see her email address pop up in my inbox whenever she posts to a writers’ community we’re both members of.

This particular post was ripe. I wasn’t the brunt of her wrath  this   time  but  another  author  was,  whom  she promptly crucified for having a differing opinion. When I read  the  message,  I got  the  full  effect  of  her  negative emotions. And that’s the message  I left on the screen. Hateful, angry, mocking.

That’s what I left showing, contaminating the room, contaminating  me every  time  I  glanced  at  the  locked screen. It would be the first  thing I saw upon returning home. It was the last thing on my mind as I  began my day.

And I didn’t like that.

So I went back to the computer and minimized the email view, then clicked on a screensaver of Shannon giving me a kiss on the beach  (could have been one with Aislinn, but this is the one I picked today).  It’s  a photo that always makes me smile, no matter what, every time I see it. That’s what I left on my screen the second time.

The last  thing  I see-and  think  about-as  I leave  the house to start my work day and the first thing I see when I return to my computer in the evening.

It’s a small thing, a very small thing, but it makes a difference in staying upbeat and serene.