Intentions | Smile. It won't kill you.

It's December 19, 1914. You're in West Orange, New Jersey. Before you burns the most spectacular blaze you've  ever seen. Columns of technicolor smoke and fire climb skyward. The air smells like burning cotton candy. Glass is shattering in the heat. Walls that were supposed to be fireproof are crumbling. You're watching one of Thomas Edison's laboratories -- full of decades of innovations -- burn.

Edison arrives. And he's smiling. The Wizard of Menlo Park is actually smiling.

This was the recent subject of a podcast by Tim Ferriss. You can listen to it here to find out why, exactly, Edison was smiling. This episode had a big impact on me.

I'm not stranger to setbacks, though mine are minor in comparison. If Edison could smile at his burning factory, I could have done with a lot less pissing and moaning about the cracked rim you see above. 

Regardless of my reaction, the rim was still broken. Acknowledging it with a smile rather than the bird makes moving forward much easier.