Brilliant Silver Linings

It’s been said that every cloud has a silver lining. This is especially true for writers. When something painful or exciting or piquant or unexpected happens in a writer’s life, instead of getting upset or distracted we can be creative. All is grist for our writerly mill.

For example, an anonymous writer said, “I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, ‘Where's the self-help section?’ She replied, ‘If I told you, it would defeat the purpose.’” This writer could have gone away grumpy. Instead, he related the event as a humorous anecdote.

A quote from Dali Lama also illustrates this idea. “Remember that not getting what you want,” he said, “is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.”

Sharing our good luck can set us up to enjoy our own silver linings more enthusiastically. For example, last week, I decided to share a silver lining of my day by dropping “lucky” pennies in the parking lot of a well-known store. It began when I got out of my car and saw a handful of change next to my foot. It was impossible to track down and return it to its owner, so I picked up four bright shiny pennies and tucked one in my change purse…for luck! Then, I dropped a shiny penny next to the rear bumper of my car, dropped another one halfway across the gap between the parking lot and the doorway, and the last penny just in front of the doorway, itself.

It’s not often that we get to observe the results of our efforts, either great or small, but that day I did. On my way into the store, a four-year-old boy ran up and grabbed the bright penny that I had dropped near my car. He jumped around and thoroughly enjoyed himself, rejoicing in that lucky penny. On my way out of the store, I saw a ninety-year old using a walker stop, stoop down and pick-up the shiny penny I had dropped halfway across the roadway in front of the store. He grinned, sheepishly, as he tucked it into his pocket. The third penny was still glittering on the pavement just outside the store entrance when I drove away.

My point? It doesn’t cost much to find and share a silver lining. Silver linings can be as available as a little pocket change, as free as a sunset. At the end of the day, count your silver linings. It may surprise you what creative tales they bring to mind.