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Morning Call: Creativity Works: How to find sunshine on a rainy day

Katie Desiderio

William Childs
Special to The Morning Call

June 13, 2017, 6:00 A.M.

Last month, I attended my daughter's graduation ceremony at Moravian College. It rained heavily that day, so the commencement was moved to inside the gymnasium. As I sat there, my clothes wet from the long walk from the car, I did everything I could to distract myself from the fact that I was going to be sitting here for the next three hours on these hard, wooden bleachers.

I was not happy about it.

After a couple of short speeches from several dignitaries, a voice began to rise above the din. From my unfortunate vantage point, I couldn’t see who was speaking. The voice I heard over the sound system asked all of us to close our eyes and focus our minds entirely on the meaning of the day and to commit to being present in this moment fully. I must admit the request caught me off guard, but I complied.

I settled on the thought of how proud I am of my daughter because she's the first person in our family to graduate from college. I simply forgot about all the rain and my busted umbrella. When I opened my eyes, I felt connected to the moment.

The speaker was Dr. Katie P. Desiderio, associate professor of management and chairwoman of Economics and Business at Moravian College. She spoke about how every day we encounter choices regarding how to face the day.

Will I choose to be positive or will I decide to be negative?