How To Turn A Bad Day Into A Good Day

Image Courtesy of LI Daily Photo

Exit your office, your elevator, your building, your block.

Have a pleasant conversation as the elevator descends with a man wearing jeans and a maroon button-down shirt. His hair is gray but plentiful and the skin on his face is slightly pockmarked. You stare at him a moment too long, look away, and stare again. Because he reminds you of someone. But who? Not someone you know. A sitcom character.

So he starts a conversation about the weather. You complain that it is too cold. He says it’s a fall day in spring.

Walk through the revolving doors and rush just a little so you don’t have to wait for the next compartment to open up. Emerge into the sunlight and realize, it is a fall day. The maroon-shirted man cordially bids you good day and button up against the cold and you both walk out of the building in the same direction and you think you’ll never get used to Manhattan Manners. But you’ve been here long enough that it doesn’t seem too strange.

You realize he reminds you of the comic-book store guy from the Big Bang Theory and you’re glad you didn’t bring that up with him because it might not be a flattering comparison. Actually, it definitely would not be.

Wander back and forth. 34th to 35th, make a left on 35th, then come back down, past the entrance to work, cross 7th Ave, walk back up 7th ave. Enter Au Bon Pain and order a coffee. Sit down on a stool in front of an olive green Formica countertop.

Stare at the passersby. Look at the empty bench in front of the window.

As you exit, breathe deeply and look at the tiny trees with their tiny leaves planted on 7th Ave. Remember two things:

1. The nerve behind your eyeball is the closest to your brain. Put your eyes where you want your focus to be.

2. Breathing through your nose, filling your lungs deeply, triggers a sense of calm relaxation.

Look at the leaves and feel their forgiveness. Look at the rooftops and know their freedom. Look at the blue sky and marvel that even in New York, it looks so clean.