Note: I’ve been inspired this year by writers of short essays and blog posts - like Roxanne Gay, Glennon Doyle, Jenny Slate, and my friend Arjun Desai - and have been wanting to try the style myself. As a more typically verbose writer, I’d love to know what you think of these short-form musings.

I listened to a Ted Talk podcast recently in which a Sri Lankan monk shared her simple, two-word mantra for nurturing. JayaShri Maathaa walks around the world quietly whispering “thank you” in her mind, and it’s enough to change her entire mood and perspective, even throughout the pandemic’s year of chaos and suffering. I’ve been trying it for a week, and it’s working for me, too.  

I spend 12 minutes walking around my apartment building block - two times in order to get enough time and movement away from my desk - whispering “thank you” to the sunshine. Thank you, to the lush green trees and plants. Thank you, to the air filling my lungs and the legs carrying my body through the world. 

I’m hiking with my mom up a rocky mountain ledge to overlook the sea on her visit to my new home. I look back at her making her way up and think, “thank you.” Let me remember this. We stand at the top with linked arms. Thank you. 

I’m sitting on my couch with candles lit, steaming mug of tea in front of me, and two dimly lit Kindles glowing in the night. Tyler and I sit side by side, reading. It’s a simple moment, it’s a repetitive moment, but it’s bliss. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Each two-word acknowledgment brings me a moment of mindfulness and gratitude, a simple awareness and appreciation for what is, today. Despite all of my goals and strivings, despite my hopes for the future without a pandemic, what I have today is perfect, and worthy of thanks. 

What small, everyday moments can you acknowledge with a “thank you” to the universe? How might it change your entire perspective on time and our place in it?

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