Why I started stripping...

Become a stripper.

No, not that kind. A life-stripper.

Let me explain.

For years, I believed that practicing gratitude—counting my blessings—was the key to happiness.

And while that’s true, I recently discovered something even more powerful...

Instead of listing what I’m grateful for, I started imagining what life would be like without the things I take for granted.

What if they were suddenly stripped away?

Imagine waking up tomorrow and…

• Your legs no longer work.
• The person you love most is gone.
• Clean water doesn’t flow from your tap.
• Your home is completely destroyed.

This practice is called negative visualization, and it's something the Stoics swore by.

As Marcus Aurelius wisely put it over 2,000 years ago:

"Take full account of what you possess, and in gratitude remember how you would long for them if they were not yours."

Try it. Strip your life down. What would you truly miss?

Now, be grateful it's still there. 😉

— Mike