This year, I hope you find ways to remove the obstacles that stand between you and your joys, no matter how minor or daunting they may be.

I remember reading a story about a therapist who came up with a creative solution to help her OCD-afflicted patient who always fears that she had left the curling iron on at home. The solution: take the curling iron with her when she leaves the house. It was a simple but clever workaround, and the patient was one step closer to enjoying her days.

I love drinking tea, especially jasmine tea. Jasmine is a tea that we grow up drinking throughout the day in Vietnamese households, and our parents would brew a family-sized teapot after every meal, usually served in beautifully painted traditional porcelain teapots and cups.

The problem is I live far away from my family now, and my days get so hectic with work that the added task of brewing several single-serve cups of tea throughout the day feels extremely cumbersome. So I just stopped drinking tea, and my collection of exotic tea leaves gifted from friends and family just sit forgotten in the cabinet.

But recently, I’ve discovered that if I have a large pot of ready-made tea sitting on my countertop, visible to my eyes, then my brain will remember that it loves tea and I find myself pouring myself a cup throughout the day. It also helps that I’ve resolved to treat myself to pretty cups and teapot. We drink and eat with our eyes just as much as with our noses and tastebuds.

So by making a simple tweak in my daily routine, I’ve forced myself to rediscover my love for tea again, and it makes my days tenfolds more joyful. And I’m sure my body also appreciates the added health benefits.

And I hope you find ways to tweak your days to make your life more joyful too, whatever that may mean for you, beautiful squash blossoms.