Your gratitude list may be a bit short in this current climate. Whatever frontline you find yourself in right now don’t feel shame if you’re having trouble creating a gratitude list. Also, aren’t you exhausted by the whole idea of creating lists to work on yourself?

We understand the beauty of our humanity through creativity. If you’re struggling to grasp the weight of any moment then look to an artist, filmmaker, musician or poet who will give you insight when your mind is active in its fear, ignorance, or misunderstanding.⁠

We’ve been taught to manage our feelings rather than understand them. In neuroscientist Jill Bolte-Taylor's memoir, My Stroke of Insight, she notes that the physiological lifespan of an emotion in the body and brain is 90 seconds.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if we all imagined each other as babies in moments of prejudice, pain, or conflict? Love is our default state only clouded by thought and judgment.⁠

The moments when you’re feeling low and down are taking more of your attention because they are uncomfortable and you want them to end. But by observing those other peaceful moments you will begin to see that our moods, thoughts, feelings are going to fluctuate throughout the day and it isn’t anything we need to fix or change.⁠

Even the most confident people in the world have moments of insecurity. They just don't let the thoughts linger. What if confidence is already in you? What if it’s not something you need to build with techniques and tricks? Or something you could only achieve when you were in better shape or had more money?

We haven’t really been trained to trust ourselves when it comes to problems of the mind, have we? Trust in the knowing that our mind is always in a process of trying to self-correct and return to a place of peace. A place which is its natural state. In some areas of life, doing nothing is actually significant work.

This has always been true. Being isolated together has only heightened your experience of this. A way to move towards a better understanding is to ask the other person to “share what you’re experiencing with me.” That phrase alone is very disarming. It’s a statement that you’re acknowledging sharing something together.

Many of us become consumed with thoughts of what the future holds. For others, a painful past is still dictating how they feel about each new day. So much that a wide-open future finally feels like a release. No expectations to create pressure in what you will do or who you will be.