{"id":15718,"date":"2025-11-12T17:59:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T00:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/the-power-of-looking-for-the-good\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:50:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:50:55","slug":"the-power-of-looking-for-the-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/the-power-of-looking-for-the-good\/","title":{"rendered":"The power of looking for the good"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ron
Ron Price<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

I heard a keynote presenter at the Four Corners Conference for Professional Development say, \u201cLove in Greek means look for the good.\u201d I\u2019m no Greek scholar, but even if that\u2019s not linguistically correct, it\u2019s certainly good advice.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not suggesting you should \u201clove\u201d all your coworkers or acquaintances, but imagine how your relationships might improve if you made it a habit to look for the good in everyone. Most people have something positive within them, even if it\u2019s better hidden in some than others.<\/p>\n

That reminds me of a woman known for always having something kind to say about everyone. A fellow church member challenged her one day, saying she could probably even find something good to say about the devil himself. The woman paused and replied, \u201cWell, he\u2019s a hard worker.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the story of a king and his court jester who often went hunting together. The king valued his jester\u2019s cheerful, positive attitude. No matter what happened, the jester would always exclaim, \u201cThat\u2019s great!\u201d<\/p>\n

One day, while hunting, the king accidentally shot off his left thumb. The jester immediately said, \u201cThat\u2019s great!\u201d Furious and in pain, the king threw the jester in jail for his insensitivity. As he was taken away, the jester called out again, \u201cThat\u2019s great!\u201d<\/p>\n

Months later, the king went hunting alone and was captured by a band of cannibals \u2013 humanitarians of a different sort. They prepared their pot, added spices, and brought in the king for the feast. But when they noticed he was missing his left thumb, they refused to cook him, saying they couldn\u2019t eat a \u201cdeformed\u201d being.<\/p>\n

Relieved and grateful, the king thought, \u201cThat\u2019s great!\u201d<\/p>\n

Immediately, he remembered his jester sitting in jail and went to free him. \u201cI\u2019m so sorry,\u201d he said, \u201cI\u2019ve been wrong to keep you imprisoned.\u201d The jester smiled and said, \u201cThat\u2019s great!\u201d The king was exasperated. \u201cYou\u2019ve been in jail for nearly a year, how can that be great?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSimple,\u201d the jester replied. \u201cIf I hadn\u2019t been in jail, I would have been hunting with you.\u201d Smiling, he then held up both his thumbs.<\/p>\n

Cute story, but with a powerful truth: we can choose to look for the good in others and in every situation. Life isn\u2019t perfect, and neither are the people around us. You can focus on others\u2019 flaws if you wish. They may be doing the same to you. You can see your cup as half empty or half full; it\u2019s your choice.<\/p>\n

But this Thanksgiving season, I invite you to look intentionally for what\u2019s right in your life and in others. To help you start, here\u2019s a simple exercise:<\/p>\n

Each morning, before the day\u2019s busyness begins, jot down on an index card ten aspects of your life for which you are thankful. They don\u2019t have to be big; perhaps a family member, your work, a friend, your health, or even the chance to read The Tri-City Record. Then, throughout the day, glance at your list as a reminder of how much you have to be thankful for.<\/p>\n

At first, finding ten items might feel like a stretch, but before long, your challenge will be limiting yourself to only ten. Over time, this daily habit will train your mind to look for the good, just as that keynote speaker encouraged.<\/p>\n

Developing an \u201cattitude of gratitude\u201d won\u2019t make life perfect, but it will make it better. You\u2019ll notice more joy, more patience, and more grace for yourself and others.<\/p>\n

So this Thanksgiving, and beyond, may you experience not only Happy Thanksgiving, but Happy Thanksliving.<\/p>\n

P.S.: The next Four Corners Conference for Professional Development is set for Feb 26 at San Juan College.<\/p>\n

Ron Price, who has a master\u2019s degree in counseling from the University of New Mexico, is author of the \u201cPlay Nice in Your Sandbox\u201d book series and creator of the CPR Mastery video course. He is available for workshops and staff training. Contact Ron at ron@ronprice.com<\/a> and (505) 324-6328. Learn more at ronprice.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gratitude isn\u2019t just a feeling \u2013 it\u2019s a lens that changes everything you see.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13307,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1091,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-15718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-columns","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15718"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19805,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15718\/revisions\/19805"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15718"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=15718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}