When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.

Ordinary functioning is invisible until it stops. Breathing, thinking, being able to want things and reach for them: none of this is guaranteed, and all of it is running right now without being asked. Calling it a privilege puts it in the right category, since a privilege is something granted rather than owed. Anyone who has been ill knows how quickly the invisible becomes precious.

Before you get out of bed tomorrow, spend fifteen seconds on what is currently working rather than on what the day demands. The point is not to feel grateful on command. It is to start the day with an accurate account of your situation.