One of my ongoing goals is to be more positive and grateful. I’m a fairly positive person, but every now and then I find myself stressed out over things that really shouldn’t stress me out. So each time I find myself complaining, I play the “What’s the upside here?” game. Today a routine six-month dental cleaning turned into a “you’ve got to have a root canal right now” visit. As I was laying supine in the endodontist’s chair, here’s what I came up with:

• I have health insurance
• I can communicate with the dentist in my native language
• It was more or less a three-hour nap, with added drill noises and hands in my mouth
• I still have my teeth
• The dentist was incredibly attentive, asking me every few minutes if I was doing okay or if I needed a break

So, even though unexpected, not the worst way to spend a Tuesday afternoon.