There's this great article in Outside, that is republished from 2012 called "Make 2021 the Year of Maximum Enthusiasm." Here's the heart of it:
Kurt Vonnegut, in a 2003 speech to students at the University of Wisconsin, said, “I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, ‘If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.’”
In 2021, I urge you to notice when something is awesome, as it often is, and exclaim or murmur or just make a mental note of it. Isn’t it just goddamn fantastic that you have your health, for example? Or running water, or electricity? Or that you have enough money to actually pay someone else to make you a cup of coffee? Or if you want ice cream, you are at any time in America probably only five or ten minutes away from a place that sells some form of it? (Trust me on that one.)
Your life, even the bad parts, is fucking amazing. And most of the small things that make up your life are amazing, too—mountain-bike rides, rock climbs, ski runs, sunsets, stars, friends, people, girlfriends and boyfriends, dogs, songs, movies, jokes, smiles ... hell, even that burrito you ate for lunch today was pretty phenomenal, wasn’t it?
All of this makes me see this as related to doing daily "grateful" exercises. It's a great addition!
Remember yesterday, when you saw that one thing that reminded you of that one friend of yours, and you thought about how, if you sent that friend a photo of the thing that reminded you of them, they would smile? But then you didn’t send your friend that photo, and it wasn’t awesome. Don’t do that again.
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