We've seen more than a few instances of people regretting their posts online about their favorite routine or what a perfect day looks like for them. It turns out that advertising your happiness online and leaving the comments on is a lot like putting a "kick me" sign on your own back.

Anyway, I do think it's useful to try to remember the last time you had a day or a week that seemed to go exactly the way you wanted it to. I'm not talking about once-in-a-lifetime events (weddings or graduations) and I'm not really talking about big milestones either (promotion, new house). I'm talking about the last time you had a somewhat ordinary or routine day that just seemed to go really well. Go ahead and think about it, and try to capture its characteristics. What made it great?

The (perhaps obvious) next step is to work backwards. Identify the conditions that are under your control that lead to more days like the one you want.

When so much of our lives must be spent recovering from unexpected hardship, I personally treasure the few days in which we find time both to be productive and to connect with the people we love. Like the immortal culinary pairings that are greater than the sum of their parts (melted chocolate on a freshly-picked, still-warm-from-the-sun strawberry) I will not forget the feeling of being allowed to both love and to create on the same day. My thanks to whichever stars had to align to make days like this possible -- may they never budge.