How to Have a Good Day, Every Day

One thing I love about San Miguel de Allende is how everyone walks everywhere. I leave my Airbnb apartment at about 10am this morning with two main objectives: 1) to find the cute little coffee shop I’d seen during my wandering over the weekend and 2) to pick up my ticket for the jazz festival(!) this weekend.

It’s a cool morning, about 65 degrees, but the sun is rising to warm the day. I hear dogs barking as I walk up Jose Maria de Arevalo, passing the street market and deli, a tortilleria and the panaderia on the corner that makes the best apple-cinnamon muffins for just 8 pesos or about 60 cents each.

The sidewalks here are very narrow, so you’re either squeezing past a bunch of people or stepping down to walk on the cobblestones, large and uneven under your feet. I step up and down, up and down, dozens of times.

The calles are still wet from being cleaned by various shopkeepers and residents. There is very little litter here.

I walk down Avenida de Guadalupe and up Insurgentes, past several florerias lined with colorful bouquets and carnicerias with their cases of beef and chicken and ham.

I walk across Canal, the buildings bright yellow with the sun, cobblestones turning copper in the light. People look up as they pass by with a polite “hola” or “buenos dias,” walking dogs, carrying children, running errands for the day.

I head up Hernandez Macias and finally find the main teatro in town, the Angela Peralta Theater which will be the main venue for the San Miguel de Allende International Jazz & Blues Festival this weekend. I’m picking up my ticket to see Tuck and Patti on Saturday!

I walk on down Zacateros to find the coffee shop, La Mesa Grande. My server takes my order in English. She is arranging fresh, pink long-stemmed roses in a vase for the big communal table.

Everything has such simple beauty in this town. There is a kind of elegant rhythm here, even if I can’t quite describe it yet from a tourist perspective.

Most people in the coffee shop are speaking English, though there are bursts of animated Spanish. A tall, white-haired man is seated in the corner, reading a book and drinking a cup of coffee. Two women walk in with a dog.

I order huevos y fritos, scrambled eggs with fried potatoes and bacon, plus a cappuccino.

I pause before I open my laptop and get to work, feeling a wave of gratitude wash over me for such a beautiful morning and the ability to take it all in.

God is everywhere, but especially in the mundane.

The truth is, while traveling is exciting, living in a foreign country for weeks at a time can be tedious and often frustrating as you wander around trying to find your way, getting lost over and over again despite your best efforts to read the tourist maps they give you all over town.

I’m grateful that my heart was wide open this morning to see the journey for what it is: a divine opportunity to live life on my own terms and in a way that helps others do the same.

Every day can be a good day if you look for what is good about it.

If you keep your heart open, you will be able to see the beauty of each morning, inviting you to give your all to it.

In this way, you can begin each day in gratitude.

Start your morning by writing down:

Today, I am grateful for…

If you can’ t think of anything specific, you can just write “the gift of being alive.”

Because being able to experience what my grandmother calls “the land of the living” is and always will be the sweetest gift.

Choose to see this day not as one filled with problems for you to deal with, but with opportunities for you to become a better person and create a better life.

Choose to face this day with optimism and positivity.

Choose to make this an amazing day.

Leave a comment: What experience are you choosing to have today?

Comments

comments