This morning, I walked into the kitchen and expressed my frustration in a wordless growl.

“What’s wrong?”

“I must clean the dishes overwhelming the sink. But I just want to make my coffee and read.”

I began the day by complaining.

I did not look out the window and notice the blue sky, obscured for days by clouds. I did not take a breath and think, “Wow. I am blessed. I live in an excellent apartment with my beautiful girlfriend and two cats—one sweet, one not so much.”

I can do better.

I will strive to find joy and beauty in my daily mundane chores. Washing dishes or scooping cat poop need not be tasks that grind my nerves. So, I’ll flex my ability to focus and reframe.

Why am I doing the task? What’s the purpose I am overlooking?

My annoyance recedes.

I wash the dishes so that my sweets and I begin the day with an empty sink.
I clean the litter boxes because I love the cats, want them to have clean toilets, and don’t want my abode to exude the stench of kitty excrement.

I still do not tackle these routines with a smile. But I must not let them sour my mood.

There are more important issues to concern myself with, like East Coast earthquakes or eclipses.