Check it as often as you see fit

Perhaps today you are dragging. Perhaps you don't feel terribly excited about anything. This is understandable. It has been a rough couple of days, hasn't it? Well, I hope this opening hasn't led you to think that I am proposing any grand solution. I'm not. How could I?

But what I hope to present to you is a tool to aid in the process of capturing that elusive "it". I've spent, and will most likely continue to spend, much of my life in search of it. But it does sustain us, and so it is worth finding.

What I'm asking you to do is to compose a list of your ten favorite things. Bear with me here. This is not as easy it sounds. First of all, be as specific or as vague as you like. There are no rules. Your list may include anything that you would call a favorite. I'm wanting to give examples here, but I will refrain. I just made my list and it is interesting. And there are things listed that I would not have ever expected to see. But what I do see, and I was hoping for this, is some consistency. Not in the types of things, mind you, but in the way I feel about them.

One final suggestion, no, one final rule: Throw your list away. Don't analyze it too much or look at it too long or judge yourself. Are these really my favorite things? Don't do that. That isn't the point. Just jot them down. The things that make you happy aren't meant to be catalogued. You are not some crazed king perched in a castle collecting treasures and alienating your loved ones. Are you? If you are, please let us know.