I often live in the past or future in my head. I grip about a deadline and other work or allow myself to disparage a present situation as I compare it to the days gone by. I strive to blow up my tendency towards these thoughts because I’ll ignore a smile-inducing instant.

I sat on the toilet — a location that beckons mind wandering — this morning and looked down to see the cat. She bit and clawed at the drawstring of my boardshorts that encircled my feet. I smiled as this simpleness proceeded for a few minutes.

I would have missed out on that momentary joy had my mind been fixated on the appellate brief due Monday. And it caused me to wonder how many moments of merriment I missed. Shit, I’m doing it again.