We had a exceptionally relaxing vacation in Scottsdale last week. I knew it was overdue, but man oh man, I didn’t realize how desperately I needed this utter downtime. I floated in a swimming pool for four exquisite days, my only plans involving where to take my next nap and when to begin happy hour.

Because summertime is the off-season in southern Arizona, the resort was super affordable. And we lucked out with the weather — it was hot for sure, but not scorching. There’s a shopping center next door with several good restaurants and a Sprouts supermarket, so we never had to get back into the car between arrival and checkout. We talked idly about other activities we might try if we wanted to drive somewhere — sights, shopping, different restaurants, karaoke — but time and again chose to remain in our pool.

We stayed at this same place last year. It’s not very big. It’s comfortable without being pretentious. I think maybe they’ve done a bit of rebranding recently; I don’t remember so many “wellness” messages from last summer. Maybe they were always there but I just wasn’t attuned to them in the same way. Anyway, last week, I saw them everywhere:

• On our pillows, a little card inviting us to consider bedtime journaling to clear our minds and complete the day with gratitude.

• In the shower, aromatherapeutic products labeled “Inward Journey.”

• In the hallways, elevators, and breakfast area, posters with inspirational messages.

I’m sure I’ve heard or read this one before, but it leapt out at me afresh in the elevator — from Paulo Coelho — “One day or day one, you decide.”

When I first saw it, it landed for me in an almost pushy way. A little too rah-rah up-and-at-em for my relaxing vibe. Like, “Why are you dawdling around the pool on this, the first day of the rest of your life? Stop procrastinating and get to it!” Of course the quote is meant to be encouraging, a motivational nudge. It’s a reminder that we needn’t postpone our hopes and dreams, consigning them to a vague “one day.” We can embark right now, with real steps.

There’s nothing wrong with that idea — I totally dig it. But I was on vacation, so I avoided that elevator for a couple of days…

It stuck with me, nevertheless. And when I returned to the poster a few days later, I reconsidered. Maybe “one day or day one” doesn’t apply only to productivity. It doesn’t need to sound urgent, pressing, or demanding; I don’t need to read it that way. (Indeed, when I think about it, I realize that that’s probably the last thing the resort designers intended when they put this particular quote in the elevator. “Let’s create an immersive spa-like serenity for our guests, except for this one elevator by the pool where we will make them feel accused and judged.”) No, that was all me — the urgency and recrimination was all me.

But I discovered that I could, instead, decide and declare today to be: Day one of Peace, of Harmony, of Justice, of Plenty. Today could be day one of Dreams Coming True, day one of Giving Myself a Friggin Break…

This goes for anything we might want, anything to which we might aspire. Sure, that can include projects and work and visionary ambitions, if we like. AND it also includes contentment and satisfaction. Our fulfillment — however we envision it — can reside either in a hazy, blurry, uncertain someday, or it can begin right now. And we decide.

It’s about how we see ourselves in relation to our yearnings, how we see ourselves in relation to that which we’d like to experience, how we see ourselves in relation to possibility and our own creative participation in the world.

Is today a day in which our dreams are unrealized and absent? We sigh, wistfully, “one day…” Or is this the very moment out of which all our hearts’ desires emerge? Deciding, here and now, “this is day one…”

I’m not suggesting rose-colored glasses or a disconnection from reality. We’ve got a world of troubles to face. Putting on blinders to our own problems and the world’s problems, with a false positivity and pretense of only seeing goodness and light — honestly, that doesn’t help a whole lot.

What does help — what is, in fact, necessary — is to believe in ourselves. To believe that we have something to offer. To believe that our choices and decisions matter, that we are enjoined to bring our hearts and minds to the matter. To remember that our gifts, talents, passions, and desires are precisely what our lives are calling for and what the world is calling for. To recognize that everything that we’ve seen and known and been through has brought us to this perfect moment — day one of everything yet to be.

Day one of a world of laughter and music, kindness and generosity. How might I embody that more fully, right now, today?

Day one of permission to be fully ourselves. More and more freely self-expressive, celebrating others’ expression as well, looking for ways to cooperate and share and collaborate.

Day one of blissful refreshment and rejuvenation and rest. Day one of heaven on earth.

I can’t wait to be with you this Sunday, July 13. Dianna Hughes will be our special musical guest. XO, Drew

©2025 Drew Groves