Jump on the BT Train!

That's for certain!

I realized that sometimes we can focus so much on our health problems, and not on our health successes.  It’s hard not to berate myself for that cookie (or half dozen) that I might have eaten this weekend. Or for not biking to work at all last week.  Or for the delicious cup of Gallileo Coffee that I drank on Monday morning on the way to work. Or for….[insert shame and negativity here]…

In contast, when I try to think about what I have been doing right, it takes a lot more time.  So I’m trying to start a Best Thing (BT) tradition for myself (and for you too, if you want to jump on the BT Train!).  

The Best Thing idea came to me because of a stranger on the bus this morning:

Since I started at UBC, I take the bus one or two times a week. On the way to and from work, I often end up standing in the aisle.. in my heels.  I hate it: it’s a precarious situation and I have trouble staying put!  This morning, for the  first time, this man realized that I was going to have to stand, and he gave me his seat without a moment’s hesitation.  I’m a feminist and I’m all for equality, but I took that seat immediately with a smile and a thank you.  It’s really touched me all day- that simple gesture of kindness to my feet.  I have never ever been given a seat like that by a stranger (and he was younger than myself, so I was surprised by the “old style manners”).

So this song is for people who better others’ health, even for strangers, through an act of kindness:

You Are The Best Thing by Ray LaMontagne

Anyways, that’s my BT from today. 

It made me think about how much better the world would be if we spoke more often of the Best Things.   I get in the habit of talking to my friends and colleagues about the worst things. It’s far too socially acceptable to complain about what part of our bodies are breaking down.

So today, I wanted to share the BT in terms of my back/neck health: I haven’t had a fullblown headache in about a month.  And from now on, this will be my new tradition- at the end of each post, I’m sharing the BT of my health, no matter what topic I’m talking about that week. 

So? What’s Your BT Today?

On another note: Thanks so much to the lovely woman who asked me today at our Healthy UBC Program about whether or not I was the Suzanne blogging about quitting coffee!  It’s great to know some other folks are reading this, and I’d like to encourage more non-HSE folks to show their faces by commenting on here!