Have you ever experienced this? Someone you love dearly dies, and suddenly, time loses its linear rhythm. One moment, the memory of their laughter feels like yesterday, a vivid echo in your mind.

I am a huge fan of RuPaul’s Drag Race. The drag artists' creativity and talents are top-notch. They have to be well-rounded performers under pressure. It’s amazing.

At the show's end, RuPaul always says, “If you don't love yourself, how in the hell are you gonna love somebody else?”

It was one of those things that I would hear but not HEAR.

Until recently.

I saw Kevin Smith’s video about his mental health journey, including a stay at a treatment center. He speaks from the heart about what he has learned through this process. It has many gems.

“But as we get older, sometimes we get away from journaling or writing down thoughts. We’re busy with writing many other things - emails, reports, and papers - that we don’t settle and take some time for our thoughts. Lists don’t even quite cut it - to do lists aren’t getting to the bottom of how those thoughts necessarily make you FEEL.”

According to the old saying, time flies when you’re having fun. The same thing happens when you’re in a state of flow. That’s the term coined by the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Flow describes an experience where you lose yourself in what you’re doing. You feel totally immersed and engaged. The time passes super quickly!

It’s been challenging to stay optimistic with all that is happening in the world. Everyone falls somewhere on the sliding scale between pessimism and optimism, depending on the situation. What if we went up the scale towards optimism? There are advantages to each, but on the average, what if getting as close to optimism as we can is a far better option? Optimism has so many benefits and can enhance your life in numerous ways.