Where do you find casual magic?

We have a dinnertime ritual in my family that I love.

While eating dinner each evening, we go around the table and say something we’re grateful for. We tend to keep it simple: Choosing to be grateful for things that often go unnoticed. I’ve come to think of these everyday joys as casual magic.

I’ve been known to be grateful for the air that fills my lungs, the legs that hold me up, and to fried rice (for being delicious). I’ve written thank you notes to the barista who greets me in French with a smile on her face day after day after day and the security guard who tips his hat off to me in the early mornings when it’s still dark.

I find myself grateful for the sand between my toes, the simple (undeniable) greatness of my first cup of coffee in the morning, and the myriad of other miraculous moments that bring me daily joy.

We have this daily ritual because it’s easy to focus on the negative.

It’s so easy to complain. Easy to stew in the sad, to be angry and disheartened and forget that among the daily frustrations and the things that need fixing in the world: There is good.

There is always good. The smile of a stranger in the street. The warmth of the setting sun. Food in your belly. An incredible view.

I collect these daily moments of casual magic and celebrate them loudly. Because ‘when you focus on the good, the good gets better’. And there is always good.

What Casual Magic have you experienced today? What are you feeling grateful for? I’d love to know.