No matter what, there are always things around me to be thankful for.

On the worst days the list gets very short and very physical. Warm water. A door that closes. The fact that this particular hour will end.

That's not a failure of the practice — it's the practice at full stretch. Gratitude on a good day is easy and costs nothing. On a bad day it shrinks to almost nothing and still works, like a pilot light.

The mistake is deciding the small things don't count because they're small.

If today is hard, don't reach for the grand list. Name three unimpressive things that are working. That's enough. It was always meant to be enough.