I was working at a large law firm in Boston- it was fast paced, competitive, stressful work. One of the quieter more reserved attorneys on our team decided to leave the firm for a less stressful position as outside counsel to a healthcare company. On her last day she wrote a goodbye message to the team and included the ‘word for the day’ in her message — that led me to this site about 4 years ago.

When I think of things I am grateful for – nature, sunshine, my partners love, my cats, etc – it’s humbling because all those little things that get me upset – a bad day at work, my lack of exercise, the fact that I can’t travel – are so minor and narrow in scope- it makes us re-frame our points of reference.

A hard day for me might be my boss giving me a hard time for not getting cases filed fast enough. But he does that while I’m sitting at home, safe from Covid, with plenty of food to eat, no money stress, in good health, with a roof over my head. Everyone’s perspective is different. It’s an easy question to answer, though difficult to keep in mind always in the moment— we get caught up in our emotions.

I can ease the path of others by putting their needs over my own whenever possible and by being an active listener, by giving them my full attention, by providing words of encouragement.

Keeping a positive mindset all day.

That’s simple —- Old habits and behaviors learned from my childhood. How to work through that? ….still working on that one…

My partner does — I’ve never felt so loved. We just shared our one year anniversary this past weekend. For sure he energizes me….I’m still working on showing up as my most alive self- my mood is often triggered (in a negative way) by the smallest things that this is difficult. I like how it’s put in this question though — show up as your most alive self — I’ll try to think of it this way more often.

The weeds will always be there in some form. You can pull them out…stash them away…but the still come back in some form. The key to a fulfilling and prosperous garden is to maintain the weeds, keep them at bay, but understand that you can’t ever fully keep them out of the garden. Sure, there are chemicals that will kill the weeds, but that’s only artificially masking the problem. Hard work and self truth and understanding is the answer.

I value my life. Investment in self improvement will lead to more positive thinking, and self awareness.

Anytime I am reminded of how tiny I am compared to the vast universe around me — I’m thinking in particular of videos you’ve probably seen which zoom out from earth -to the solar system- then to outside the Milky Way galaxy. When we think of how tiny we are compared to that, and then think of all that happens on this planet that appears like a tiny dot from Mars…. our existence is a miracle.

-my cats
-a warm shower
-a hot cup of coffee
-pizza
-raw oysters from Maine
-airplane travel (pre-covid)
-spending a few minutes sitting outside every morning—enjoying that I can now do this year round
-hiking and spending time in nature
-cooking
-going on adventures with my partner
-camping
-listening to music – classical, rock, bluegrass, techno, metal…

Well said.

‘Let me not raise dust’ — such a perfect metaphor.

I’ve only ever seen Niagara Falls from a plane…and even then from 20k+ feet up it looks impressive

Thank you for this. In my job I’m dealing with a similar email situation. Going to try to think of it this way today.

“Observation is perfect concentration “- I like that

Yes I did that too —- I feel so much more at home on the west coast than I did spending most of my life in the northeast.

Yes! Totally planning for my first garden this spring!

I love this!