The high and low concept.

My friend wawa (she will always be wawa to me...) started a blog not too long ago, built on the high/low concept. I know she got this idea from a movie we both enjoy called "The story of us" (1999) and it is a concept I have loved ever since. Ive personally done it many times, although Ive kept it just to myself. It is especially useful at times with high stress levels or a general feeling of being blue.

In the movie Ben (Bruce Willis) and Katie (Michelle Pfeiffer) are married but drifting apart, and the story revolves around their attempt to save their relationship. The high/low concept is something they do with the kids every night at dinner and it is as simple as to state the best and worst thing that happened that day.

Ive found that if you do this every day, at least for a certain period of time, you start looking for the good things that happen and you take notice. The little things that might have passed unnoticed before suddenly gets a certain level of importance. A person on the bus complimenting you on your hairdo on a bad hairday (or what you thought was a bad hairday) are remembered more easily if you look for happy moments during the day. Snowfall instead of rain or a really great cup of coffee at breakfast can really cheer you up if you open up to it. Normally most people let these moments pass as if they have no meaning at all, and the result is grumpy morning-people and people complaining about the cold weather...(Do you honestly not want dry snowfall instead of wet rain? Put on some more clothes damn it and stop complaining). As you go along you may start to notice that the high's become more and more significant and the low's more and more insignificant to the point where "Out of toiletpaper at the public bathroom" becomes the low on a day with the opposit "Got asked out on a date by a really great guy/girl"-high. Eventually you may find it harder to state low's than high's at which point you have to face the fact that you are no longer feeling blue or sad in any way if that was your original mood.

Sometimes people need this kind of perspective...I know I do. Low's tend to get way too much attention and people complain more than they enjoy. And the ironic thing is; a low which feels horrible or life-ruining at one point may just turn out to be a high in the end after all. New doors may open and life may take new turns, and although most people characterize change as a low it most often turns out to be a high.

Ive been wrecking my brain while writing this, trying to come up with my own high and low for the day. My day is only half finished, and so far I have been able to think of 3 high's and no low's...Im sure a low will turn up eventually, but for now I will focus on the 3 high's:

• I got an additional 4 months added to my Master degree deadline
• I got my paper from last semester approved by Uni
• Im going to the theater tonight to watch the classic film noir: Murder, My Sweet (1944)

And while I was writing that list I did actually come up with a low. It is raining cats and dogs outside and I only have a half broken umbrella with me...so I am going to get wet when I go home tonight...but in light of the high's today, it doesnt seem bad at all.

In fact; it is insignificant.