What if everything isn’t as bleak as it seems?
For anyone who has experienced, or continues to suffer from depression, you will know that life can seem like an endless river of misery. That everywhere and everything feels black and gloomy.
I’m Anand Quinn, an emotional wellness and embodiment coach based in Tuamgraney, Co Clare, Ireland. I have been in this position and when I was in deep depression, I felt like I was dragging myself through life and through the days. Even washing dishes was an effort.
But what I discovered through a simple experiment over 12 years ago reframed how I see life and it might help you too.
The Question That Changed Everything
At some point, I began to question logically whether life can be all bad and miserable. I intuitively knew that life has balance but I could not see it so I conducted an experiment that had profound consequences.
I took a large glass vase and some small pink stick-it notes. I said to myself that there must be at least one nice thing a day that can happen so I made a mental note to:
1) notice it, and;
2) record it by writing that nice thing on the pink stick-it note.
Once I had written it down, I would fold it in half and put it in the large glass vase. I did this so I would have a visual reminder every time I looked at the vase as it filled up with the pink stick-it notes.
I anticipated that it would take a long time for the vase to fill up. I was wrong!
What Actually Happened
What happened is that on the first day I noticed that the sun was out (a rarity in Ireland).
The next day I noted that someone smiled, I had a nice conversation, and I enjoyed a meal, so I had three stick-it notes to complete.
Then on day three I completed six stick-it notes, and every day after that the number of nice things I noticed increased.
To my amazement, I struggled to keep up with writing down all the nice things that happened in the day and I was writing multiples of stick-it notes, and within weeks the glass vase filled up rapidly.
This wasn’t because my life suddenly became wonderful. My circumstances hadn’t changed. What changed was my attention.
The Shift in Perception
This changed how I looked at life because I knew from this experiment that life was not only doom and gloom. That once I began to notice all the small joyful details of life, I could no longer unsee them.
My inner focus changed from seeing only negative to seeing both positive and negative.
I did this experiment over 12 years ago and I continue to notice the small joys and beauties of life each day as well as seeing things that are not so great but it has a different quality now. It no longer overwhelms me. I can hold space for inner pain.
The difficult things are still there but my capacity to be with both the difficult and the beautiful has expanded. That’s the transformation.
An Invitation to Try This Yourself
If you are caught in a loop of despair, I encourage you to try your own experiment.
You could do similar like above, or you could:
- Use voice notes and play them back at the end of each day
- Collect stones as a reminder of the number of nice moments you noticed in the day
- Take photos of small beautiful things throughout your day
- Text yourself one good thing before bed each night
The key element is to actively look for and notice at least one nice thing in a day.
Try it and see what happens.
This practice isn’t about denying pain or forcing positivity. It’s about training your attention to see the whole picture, including the moments of beauty, kindness, and joy that exist alongside the difficulty. It’s about discovering that even in the darkest times, light still finds a way in.
Support for Your Journey
I work with clients throughout Ireland (Clare, Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick) and internationally who feel stuck, overwhelmed, or seeing everything through a negative lens.
Through emotional wellness coaching, we work with practices that help shift your attention, build your capacity to hold both difficulty and joy, and support you in finding your own path back to seeing life’s richness.
If you would like some help with this, I’m here to support you.
Reflection Questions
- What’s your relationship with noticing good things? Does it feel impossible, uncomfortable, or just unfamiliar?
- If you started this experiment today, what’s one small thing you’ve already noticed that could go on your first stick-it note?
- What gets in the way of noticing joy? Is it the inner critic, exhaustion, or something else?
Resources & Related Content
If you found this helpful, you might also enjoy:
- Emotional Wellness Coaching – Work with overwhelm, low mood or negative thinking patterns through personalised support
- Meditation – Practices that help you become more present and aware of the full spectrum of life
- Free Resources – Access guided meditations and the Time Wheel tool for managing overwhelm
Ready to shift your perspective?
If you’re ready to work with someone who understands low mood and can support you in finding a more balanced view of life, book a free 60-minute Insight Call to explore how we might work together.
If you try this experiment and get great results, I would love to hear how it works for you! Share in the comments below, reach out at info@wellnesswithanand.com
Wellness with Anand 
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