No matter how strapped we may feel when times are tough, any gesture of kindness can become a source of immense satisfaction. Just the other day, I heard someone who is homeless describe how good it felt to give properly fitting shoes to someone who didn’t have a pair that fit well.

We can challenge ourselves by giving anonymously. We can give to those we care about, but perhaps there’s a greater sense of altruism if we also give in ways that take the personal links to ourselves out of the process. After all, we’re all in this tiny world together, making it less of an issue of where the giving is coming from, and more about the mere fact that the giving is taking place.

Sitting on a rock at the confluence of two rivers reaching the sea, feeling a gentle breeze coming across the water, I felt the natural emergence of a meditative state. For some of us, other situations may be particularly powerful, such as walking along the rim of a canyon at sunset.

Although the practice of mindfulness is particularly helpful when engaged across situations, the focused practice of mindfulness can be deliberately instilled through situational factors such as a particular location or an upright posture. What works for you?

Thoughts are not necessarily facts. Thoughts are mental events.

The power thoughts have on our lives is tremendous. Thoughts, beliefs, and assumptions strongly affect how we feel and act.

For instance, not getting a timely response to a friend can spur a whirlwind of feelings as we come up with all kinds of meanings behind it–until we discover what happened. Often, there was an understandable interruption of the friend’s own life. Sometimes, friends can think something you did or said was pushing them away.

One of the most helpful therapies to address emotional distress is to root out negative patterns in thinking and shift to more constructive thinking. The approach isn’t to become delusional with positivity, but to challenge the negative biases.

Mindful thinking involves being aware of the nature of our thoughts as mental events, observing them as if they are clouds passing by in various shapes. We can even mindfully play with our thoughts by asking questions such as, “Could the opposite be true?”

We may realize that thinking, for example, ”I should be perfect,” is perhaps only as accurate as the thought, “I should not be perfect.” Perhaps a mindfully intentional shift to a more certain thought would be helpful, such as, “I’ll try to do well and at least be satisfied that I tried.”

Although opportunities can be systematically limited, it can be helpful to ask whether or not we open ourselves up to possibilities we may never have dreamed. Rather than resigning ourselves to our own pre-set expectations, we can take an approach to our lives that allows us to explore more than anticipated.

Few would have imagined that Cornell University’s basketball team would be among the NCAA’s Sweet Sixteen this week, and it makes sense–the Ivy League prohibits athletic scholarships, limiting the university’s ability to recruit top talent for the team. Still, Cornell made it to the Sweet Sixteen.

Let’s not give up on ourselves. Let’s give ourselves a shot at the extraordinary. Let’s open up to the opportunities we encounter.

Attempting to break down preconceived notions of what an experience will be allows for a liberation from what we expected. For instance, work can become play. Perhaps knowing this allows for the opportunity to bring a little more joy into the day.