Woke up under a dark cloud the other morning for no particular reason, so cast about for something to blame it on.

I was hungry, which always puts me in a bad mood, noted a cat had upchucked a hairball and spotted dirty dishes in the sink, a pet peeve.

None seemed reason enough to warrant my irritation, so continued to scan for something to rationalize my crabby mood.

I saw rain was forecast, which led me to ruminate how I’d wasted the glorious weather last weekend cleaning our unsold house in the Kootenays — vacuuming dust and spiders from basement beams, washing windows and floors, and other tedium.

This led to feeling annoyed we’re still saddled with a house I previously loved so (and still do), but have let go and moved on.

Now I was getting somewhere, a target for my angst . . . but I happened to look outside and saw our brightly painted dock leading into the glassy calm surface of Pinantan Lake. The green buds of trees, houses from the other side, yellow reeds along the shore were all reflected and the sun was peeking through the clouds. The beautiful moment forced me to give my head a shake.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the minutiae of our lives, letting silly details eclipse the bigger picture that life is pretty darned good.

Last week, a Torontonian finished his final entry on a blog (1000awesomethings.com) on the subject, which we ran a story about Saturday.

Neil Pastricha jotted down 1,000 “small pleasures” like the last day of school (No. 6), remembering how lucky we are to be here right now (No. 2) and finally peeing after holding it forever (No. 529).

No. 1 on his list: “Anything you want it to be.”

I look forward to reading the book but until then, I’ll start my own list and add to it daily, especially when feeling out of sorts.

So, in no particular order, here’s the first few:

* Mews — not all of them, just the funny ones my younger cat makes when she’s being cute. Cat lovers will understand, it’s different from the “let me in the house” mew or the “I’m hungry” mew.

* Sleeping in.

* Good sheets.

* Waterfowl — we have a duck duo daily on our dock; he with his emerald green mallard head and she, a pale grey with white and vivid purple tail feathers. They waddle up the lawn to within feet of our deck and he stands vigil under the bird feeder while she eats and eats. Also loving the wild sound of loons calling out when the sun sets, kind of reverse roosters.

* Seeing the delight on the boss’s face when he realized someone remembered his birthday with donuts and a votive candle atop.

* Someone else cooking.

* Exceeding exercise goals — I am running nearly 10 kilometres already thanks to seven weeks of training for Boogie while my goal was five.

* Bubble baths.

* Bringing joy to my 80-year-old mother-in-law by playing Scrabble on Facebook.

Two decades ago, the Power of Positive Thinking revolutionized how people look at the world; today, 1000awesomethings.com offers a simple reminder of the importance of looking on the brighter side.

I’d love to hear what readers have on their lists.

tgilchrist@kamloopsnews.ca