I woke up early this morning and lay in bed, thinking about the world and the irrational behavior of human beings. It came to me that the appropriate response, contrary to my normal impulse, is not to spend the day in blank astonishment at human stupidity, but to make things peaceful here where I am, right now.

My bed coverlet is therefore in the back yard, drying on a clear and sunny day after being laundered. I rotated my mattress and changed the sheets. I wiped down the bathroom sink, organized my towels and sheets and stowed the extras in a cabinet, and dusted the flat surfaces in the bedroom. I have been struggling with two fountain pens that have nib problems, trying to fix them, so I washed them out and they are drying on the kitchen counter; instead, I filled my two best and most expensive fountain pens with reliable inks.

Every day I feed the cat, scrape the litter, make coffee and drink it, listen to a short podcast in French, do a math lesson in Khan Academy, write in my journal, plan my day (once the coffee kicks in and I can think) and make a quick blog post on some topic that has grazed my mind. Done, done, done, etcetera.

Now I’m going to tidy my kitchen, water the outside plants, schedule my cat for his annual visit to the veterinarian, and go to the grocery store.

I’m also going to text all my friends and wish them a nice day. That should help.

Later on, my family will come over for dinner, and after they leave, I will put the trash out.

There you have it. World solved. Or at least the world I have any control over, that is.