The Day That Forgot to Cooperate
Colton thought his day was falling apart. Instead, it was falling into a brand-new insight he never expected.
Colton woke up on Saturday with a very specific plan. It was going to be the best day ever. He had pictured it perfectly the night before. He would get up early and play video games with Papa, eat a giant bowl of cereal, play with his cat Lucy, go outside and build a fort with his sister Evie, ride his new scooter, and then go inside to watch his favorite show.
It was a flawless plan. At least in his mind.
He powered on his game console and sat ready, controller in both hands, feet bouncing with excitement. He waited for Papa to sign in to their favorite game. The loading screen beeped. The friends list popped up. No Papa.
Colton waited.
And waited.
And waited so long that he was convinced he had aged ten years.
Finally, he grabbed his mom’s phone and called him.
Papa answered with a sleepy, gravelly voice.
“Hello…?”
“Papa! You forgot! You were supposed to wake up early to play with me!”
Papa groaned gently.
“Sorry, buddy. I had a long day yesterday, so I’m sleeping in a little. We can play later, okay?”
Colton’s shoulders slumped. The plans in his head drooped with them.
“This is not how my day is supposed to go,” he muttered.
Next came the cereal. The box felt promising… until he poured it and only a sad handful of crumbs came out. His mom offered him the healthy cereal, the kind that crunches like cardboard pretending to be food.
He ate it, but he did not smile. Not even once.
After breakfast, he tried to play with Lucy, but she was in full ninja-cat mode, darting across the furniture and vanishing behind things like she was on a secret mission he had not been invited to.
He sighed.
“Lucy, the plan is falling apart.”
He finally went outside to build a fort with Evie, except Evie was busy turning a stick into a magic wand. The wind grabbed every blanket he tried to hang. One even slapped him in the face, which felt unnecessary.
Evie looked over.
“Are we building the fort now?”
“We were trying,” Colton said. “But the wind is winning.”
The fort came out crooked. Evie kept turning parts of it into pretend dragons. Nothing matched the awesome fort he had imagined.
Feeling frustrated, he grabbed his new scooter.
This, he thought, will fix the day.
He slipped on his helmet, pushed off, and rolled down the driveway. The breeze brushed past his cheeks. For the first time that day, he felt good. He felt fast. He felt free.
He felt finally, like something was going right.
Then it happened.
Just when he started to enjoy himself, the front wheel hit a small rock.
A tiny one.
The kind you can barely see.
The scooter jerked sideways, throwing him off balance. Colton tumbled onto the driveway in a dusty little heap.
He sat up, checking himself. He was okay, no scrapes, no bruises, just startled.
His scooter, however, looked like it had been through a small disaster drill. The handlebars were now twisted sideways like they were trying to look backward.
“Seriously?” Colton groaned at the sky.
Feeling the entire universe was ignoring his plans, he went inside to watch his favorite show. He walked into the living room…
And there sat Evie.
On the couch.
Watching her show.
With crackers.
Colton stared at her.
“That was part of my plan,” he said.
Evie shrugged.
Deeply defeated, Colton stomped outside and sat on the front steps. Lucy trotted out behind him and sat down too, curling her tail around her paws like a tiny furry therapist.
Colton crossed his arms.
“This whole day is ruined.”
Lucy blinked slowly. Cats are very good at quietly disagreeing.
Colton stared out at the yard. The trees moved gently. Birds hopped in the grass. The sky drifted calmly across the day. Nothing dramatic. Nothing bad.
Everything was just… happening.
And something inside him softened.
Papa sleeping in was not a disaster.
The cereal was different, not terrible.
Lucy was just being Lucy.
The fort was silly but fun.
The scooter fall was just a fall.
Evie watching her show was not an attack.
“Oh,” Colton whispered. “The day isn’t bad. It’s just not going the way I wanted it to.”
Lucy blinked again. Approval.
He took a deep breath, feeling his mood shift quietly, like clouds parting on their own. He stood up and went back inside.
Evie looked up.
“Want to play now?”
Colton nodded. Suddenly everything felt easier.
They played. They laughed. They built a new fort that was still crooked but perfect in its own way. Lucy supervised from a windowsill like a proud and slightly judgmental manager.
Later, Colton fixed the scooter and rode again, carefully avoiding the pebble. He glided down the driveway with a smile that felt bright and easy.
When he finally sat down to watch his favorite show, Evie joined him. They shared a bowl of popcorn, and somehow it tasted better than anything he had planned.
The day had not gone his way.
But it had not gone wrong.
It had simply gone different.
And different, he realized, wasn't bad.
Three Principles in Action
1. Mind
Mind stayed quiet and steady inside Colton all morning. Even when he felt upset, the wisdom within him waited patiently for him to settle. When he finally sat still, Mind nudged him toward the simple truth: the day was not broken, his thoughts were just loud.
2. Consciousness
Consciousness made everything feel big and important. It made the empty cereal box feel tragic, the crooked fort feel terrible, and the scooter fall feel like the universe was against him. Consciousness brought his thoughts to life, making the day look “bad” even though nothing bad was actually happening.
3. Thought
Thought painted Colton’s whole experience. When he believed the thought that everything was ruined, the whole day felt ruined. But when his thinking shifted and softened, the same day looked completely different. His experience changed the moment his thoughts did.
Final Thought
Sometimes the day feels wild and uncooperative. But usually it is just our thoughts arguing with how life is unfolding. When the mind settles, we can see that the day was never against us. It was simply being a day. And once our thinking clears, even the crooked handlebars and crunchy cereal seem a little easier to smile at.