The highest spiritual leader and former head of state of Tibet, the 14^th Dalai Lama is the author of this week’s quote. The Dalai Lama reminds us of something so basic, but something we don’t see that often. He asks to choose to remain optimistic because it feels better.  Being optimistic means seeing a glass as being half full rather than half empty. So when one sees the good in every and any situation, we automatically start seeing the good as opposed to seeing the bad when we are pessimistic and this opens up our hearts and our lives. And for me especially, this quote spoke to me this week as I grapple with seeing some things happen and taking it positively as opposed to my usual pessimism.

This weekend, we celebrated BB & GG’s 19^th birthday. Because they have different sets of friends, BB’s friends came yesterday and GG’s friends will come later today. And because the bulk of the children coming wanted Indian food, that’s what they got. We had a lot of fun yesterday and will do so today also.

According to the World Health Organization chief, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the world has never been in a better position to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Though we are not there yet, the end is in sight according to him, the most upbeat assessment from the agency since the start of the pandemic. It has also been reported that deaths from COVID-19 last week were the lowest since March 2020. We’ve moved beyond the emergency phase of the pandemic and today most governments  are now looking at how best to manage COVID-19 as part of their routine healthcare and surveillance.