We all know how important it is not to ignore or deny the bad news all around us. If we do, we aren’t being honest, and we won’t be motivated to work for change. But finding and passing along bad news is pretty much a no-brainer.

The real challenge is opening our eyes to the good news! And seeing the possibilities within us and between us is just as important to working for change as candor about what’s wrong.

Here’s a poem I love because it uses the eye-opening power of humor to help us see what might and can be. As a line in Carrie Newcomer’s “If Not Now” says, “Miracles do happen every shining now and then / If not now, if not now, tell me when…”

Blessings
by Ron Wallace

occur.
Some days I find myself
putting my foot in
the same stream twice;
leading a horse to water
and making him drink.
I have a clue.
I can see the forest
for the trees.

(Excerpted from Long For This World: New And Selected Poems. Read the full poem here.)