Personal Leadership Development

A Cup of Golden Sun

Written by Erika Petrelli | Sep 3, 2013 2:00:05 PM

One of my two-year-old son’s favorite songs to sing recently is “Do-Re-Mi” from The Sound of Music. You know, “Doe, a deer, a female deer; Ray, a drop of golden sun; etc.”  He belts it, and also gets it all mixed up. My favorite adaptation that he has made is that he will yell “Ray! A CUP of Golden Sun!”

I mean, why stop at a drop of golden sun when you can have an entire cup?!

So I’ve been thinking about what it means to have a cup of golden sun in your hands, and the image has been speaking powerfully to me. I imagine holding this oversized coffee mug that simply glows as the sunlight spills out from over top of it. Can you picture it? It makes me smile as I think about what makes up my cup o’ sun. What actually makes life sunny to me? What makes things shine a bit brighter? What don’t I want just a drop of, but a whole cup? Here’s part of the list that started running through my head:

  • My husband
  • My kids
  • My parents and family
  • Flowers
  • An unexpected breeze
  • A good book
  • A glass of wine
  • Getting under the cool sheets at the end of a long day
  • Driving with the windows down
  • The sound of real laughter
  • A fountain diet coke with extra ice
  • Sweet tea
  • Pictures of my loved ones, especially when we’re making funny faces
  • The color yellow
  • The big blue sky
  • This blog
  • Indiana
  • New York City
  • The sound of a fiddle or a banjo
  • Glitter
  • A real hug

I could go on and on… honestly, the more I think about my cup of golden sun, the more I realize all that’s in it. Soon it will have to be a thermos and eventually a cooler and perhaps even a truck-load. When I look for it, it’s all around me.

Golden sun, it turns out, expands the more attention you give it. Sure you could stop at a drop-full. A drop-full of sun is a pretty okay thing. But if you invite in a cup-full, soon it will fill every nook and cranny of your day, with things you didn’t even realize or expect.  Go on, give it a try.

What is in your Cup of Golden Sun?  

Interested in having Erika’s blog come directly to your e-mail each Tuesday? Have comments to share?  E-mail her at erika@tlpnyc.com.