I find that however I open my day affects the rest of my day. In my case, my morning is largely dependent on how the kids are doing getting up and ready for school, but when I'm driving them to their various destinations, I'm careful not to put on the news because--let's face it--it's not a good way to greet the morning. It's often loud and sensationalistic, and even the best reporting tends to focus on shootings, war, murder and violence. (It's what gets ratings and certainly happens, I'm not naive, but when we measure history in terms of death and conquering, it's no wonder how we got that way.) But for me, I can't function cleanly with my blank page and while what I write is hardly all roses and song, I need to feel inspired by the world around me and not dragged down into Count Rugen's pit of despair. I'm perfectly capable of wallowing in my own despair, thank you. What I need is to think fresh thoughts, be excited by something new, start the gears turning and the inspirational popcorn popping--that's why I started a new practice for myself: I get TED.

If, by some miracle, you haven't heard of TED talks, imagine a room full of the most interesting people on the planet sharing amazing insights on a variety of things, standing up and talking to you for 10 minutes each. These things are things that make you wonder, make you gasp, think of things in a new light, consider something you thought forgotten, a twist on an assumption, a reflection on a slice of the world, or a way of thinking about the universe and its people that you may never have thought of before on your own. It's as if a new door opens, inviting you to think in fresh directions and wander down untrodden paths, and even if it's something you knew (or thought you knew) or believed already, it's always good to hear it said aloud in a new voice that doesn't live between your ears because then you never know what sparks it might shake loose. TED features world leaders, visionaries, CEOs and activists, there are scientists, theorists, astronauts, underwear models, game designers, politicians, authors and even everyday smart folks. There are people who you'd never get to meet on the TED stage and people you might see every day. There are laughs and smiles, stunned silences and respectful sighs, and you can hear the wheels turning as the words light up something inside and is being passed like a candle flame from person to person to camera to you. This is the kind of energy I need to greet my day and my page and the people around me.

So if you're anything like me and would click the Dislike button on most mornings if you could, you might want to get TED instead. Start your day off thoughtful, appreciative, and completely inspired in 10 minutes a day.

It's an idea worth spreading! ;-)

Okay, so it isn't something sparkly like May Day or New Year's Eve, it doesn't herald the beginning of a shiny season like winter or spring, and there's not much going on--it's just...March. March is somewhere stuck in-between, not quite warm enough to enjoy the sunshine and not quite cold enough to enjoy the snow; March is grey and drippy, resembling slush on the road. But there are winks of red and green in against the tired white and the breeze smells more like rain than snow; it's a little thing, but holds the promise of bigger things coming. And sometimes it's nice to celebrate the little things: a couple of hundred words of progress, one room finally cleaned and vacuumed, the last thing scratched-off of the ever-growing To Do list, or even something as simple as hanging a print on a blank wall.

Proof positive that the little things can bring great satisfaction. This looks like a real room!
(Note the sleeping cats are not impressed.)

So this Friday, March 1st, treasure the little things because you never know what will inspire your next Big Thing!*

* For example, this morning my daughter was grumbling and mumbling about getting up after an exciting day yesterday when her class got to speak to astronauts in the International Space Station. She was moving slowly, still on about galaxies and microgravity and planets all while I struggled to find a pair of pants somewhere in her messy room. What came out of my mouth was, "I know that we're all stardust, but you have to wear pants to school." And if that's not the inspiration for something wonderful, I don't know what is!