2026 July 28 Okay can be pretty good

Hi, this is Jim Cranston from 7EveryMinute and 7EveryMinute.com, the podcast and website about reimaging your life. Tonight we're talking about mindful appreciation, so let's get started. If you like what you hear today, please leave a like, subscribe, tell your friends, send me a message.

This week we're going to take a little break from our normal challenge-and-solution format and instead go through kind of a quick reminder, which we haven't done in a bit, of remembering all the things that are good, that went right, that might bring joy into our lives.

Even before I think — and I know no matter how you lean politically, socially, environmentally, pick absolutely any topic — it's easy to feel like the world is ending any moment now, and there's plenty of evidence to show that your side is correct. Of course, that same thing has been predicted since the time of the ancient Greeks and even before that. In other words, for over 3,200 years, the same basic prediction. So instead, for a moment, how about focusing on what is good and right in the world — specifically in your world, right at this moment.

Could you have more money, less taxes, more time, less illness, all those things? Sure. But you could also have less money, more taxes, less time, more illness, and even more things that you find challenging. This isn't to advocate being complacent or fatalistic. It's simply to remind you, me, all of us, that life is often what we make of it.

Today we had thunderous downpours where I live, and I could have been disappointed at having a lost day — as I was. But I could also be happy that it will probably help the corn and field crops, which are a bit behind on rainfall in the area. And it's a reminder that many of the apple orchards lost 100 percent of their crop to a late frost. Think about that. This region, upstate New York, used to be number one in apples in the US. We're still, I think, number two or three, but huge apples, and there are whole orchards that lost 100 percent of the crop this year. Literally, I drove by complete apple orchards without a single apple in sight on any of the trees today. So hopefully those dudes and dudettes who are the farmers also have field crop plantings to help cover this season's income. It all depends on your perspective.

As you age, you tend to increase things for most of your life. You get more income. You get a bigger house. You get more opportunities. This isn't some sort of guarantee, but it's kind of a normal career progression. But humans quickly get used to the current status as normal. So you expect to keep increasing all the things in your life, and suddenly the contentment you had with the increases loses its appeal and becomes normal — which means that last year kind of becomes bad, even though you thought it was fine when you were living it.

Similarly, we tend to forget all the amazing things that just work, and work correctly, most if not all of the time. When you make a call and you get a connection. When you go to the gas station and they have gas. When you go to the grocery store and you generally have pretty much almost anything you're looking for. Every one of those things is a total miracle in much of the world, and yet we just assume that's normal. And when there's any problem whatsoever, we whine like it's the worst thing that could have happened. I hear it often when I'm shopping — people complaining that their favorite brand of bread is sold out, when the aisle has dozens if not hundreds of other totally workable bread options. We've trained ourselves to expect nothing less than perfection, and that's not reasonable.

So since we trained ourselves to do this — of course, with a lot of help from marketing — it also means we can retrain ourselves to appreciate good as normal and perfect as an exceptional treat. To be clear, as someone with a few extensive food allergies, this is something I have to live with on a daily basis in order not to be perpetually annoyed, and I've found numerous upsides to having to be selective in my eating.

So I suggest you try some simple exercises in your daily life. Randomly, throughout the day, just be aware of what you're doing, and especially what it took to make that situation or event happen. Annoyed with the song on the internet stream? Think about all the servers that have to be working all throughout the world. All the thousands of miles of fiber optic cable laid underground for safety, and all the electric plants and renewable energy projects developing and operating to generate all that electricity. All the programmers and businesses functioning together, and so on — that even made all that possible.

As they often say, live radio, things happen. One never knows what will happen — and this is actually a good case in point. What that was, was something I forgot was going on, which is making bread at home — one of the things I've been able to do since being diagnosed with celiac. Which is exactly my point. Rather than be annoyed about it, I thought about how fortunate I was that I developed that ability and that talent to be able to do that — that I'm able to do it at home. It's how you focus, and what you focus on.

So back to our little examples: annoyed at the checkout line at the store? Just look at what's in your cart or basket, and the baskets of everyone around you, and the variety and the cleanliness — this commonplace, wherever you are. And think about how many people are able to be served, in whatever store you happen to be in, with no fear of shortages. And so it goes with everything that happens at home, at work, when you're out for leisure, driving somewhere — in every facet of your life. You may be tempted to say, "but it'd be better if..." And if you're tempted to say that, then stop and ask yourself: am I trying to make perfection my new normal? Because that's a guaranteed recipe for a life of dissatisfaction.

Or as an old friend used to say, living your life controlled by "the wicked wants" — no matter what you have, you want something else, and nothing in the present is ever good enough, so long as you can envision something in the future that you might think is better. If you want something better, then by all means, plan for it and work towards it. But that should not reduce the amazing value of all the things you have in your own present life.

Remember, we talked about this last week: the only thing that actually exists is now, the present. The past already happened — it's something you learn from. The future hasn't happened, it doesn't exist — it's something you envision, part of your life however you want to envision it. And so if you make that vision strong, then you can live towards a future that's strong. But if you just go around wanting all the time, then you'll never be satisfied.

So, as always, stay mindful and appreciative of all the opportunities around us and right in front of us. By all means, work to improve your circumstances if that's what you desire, but first make sure it will really be bringing fulfillment, and isn't just chasing "the wicked wants" because you think the grass is always greener somewhere else. Compare yourself to your own circumstances and desires, not to those you see around you — because you have no idea the true cost of what someone's public appearance may be costing them, in time or happiness.

This is especially true regarding social media. It's easy to make your life look amazing 60 seconds at a time, and then to hide the other 23-plus hours of living a miserable life — perhaps of debt and unhappiness — in order to create that illusion of perfection.

Finally, don't be afraid to look at your life exactly as it is, and think about all the things you're doing right, and especially how fortunate you are to have them. That doesn't mean things are perfect, but even many of life's challenges can be recognized as kind of symptoms of success, if you really look at the causes and the results.

Sitting there kind of annoyed because you have to get new tires on that car already? Well, if you think about it, you realize it's actually because you got that new job — the one you really, really wanted — but it's an hour away because you haven't been able to move yet. And how much better you feel about the job outweighs the occasional cost of the tires. Looking for the reason and the reward in the occasional challenge can pay big dividends in appreciating the present, and also in grounding how you create your future and define how you want your life vision to be. And once you get that life vision defined, you can start to perceive most challenges as just small steps towards reaching your goals, instead of needless setbacks and annoyances.

Be aware and mindful, and I wish that you can discover a world far less annoying and challenging than social media and the news portray — and that you'll then be better able to define the future you really want. Live a life of happiness and satisfaction, while still working towards the improvements that you find important.

That's it for the evening, as always. Thank you for stopping by. I wish you wonderful things in all manners of your life, because there really are a lot of good things going on when you really step back and look at them. Remember, one of the best ways to care for yourself is to care for others.

As always, see UKR7.com. That's a link to help organizations that help people in Ukraine. And then World Central Kitchen, WCK.org — that's an organization that works in disaster areas around the world. Both useful links for helping others. And of course, there are a lot of local places, too — local charities and aid organizations can always use some help, even if you're just not in a position for time or money. Whatever you can do to work with somebody like that, remember that just a simple smile can change someone else's day for the better in ways you can't even imagine.

Thank you for stopping by. If you found something useful or interesting, please pass it along. Please subscribe, hit that like button. Have a great week. Remember to live the life that you dreamed of, because that's the path to true contentment. Love and encouragement to everyone. See you next week on 7EveryMinute and 7EveryMinute.com.