I realize that among the many choices I have is choosing what I focus on and what perspective will serve me best. So instead of focusing on the burden of a fifth business trip to China, I will focus on the blessing of having paid work that makes a positive impact on others and makes me happy.

I am writing this from an airport lounge at JFK airport where I sit in a comfy armchair nursing a cup of coffee and a raspberry yogurt before taking off on my fifth business trip to China. To be honest, the coffee is passable and the yogurt is just OK, but I’m choosing to enjoy them because once I get to Beijing for a week to facilitate presentation skills workshops for a few clients, I know that the only coffee I’ll have will come from the little jar of instant Maxwell House that I’ve scurried away in my luggage, and that the only dairy I’ll have will be… none. So for right now, at this moment, the coffee is a gift for my alertness, and the yogurt is a gift for my bones.