Neil Pasricha is an author and entrepreneur from Canada.

His parents were immigrants from India. He had a good life as his parents raised him in an environment very different from the stark poverty they had experienced. He was part of the middle class in North America, with birthday parties and McDonald’s hamburgers.

As he became an adult, he got an education and got married. He was living “the life.”

Then, in 2008 and 2009, things went south for him. His wife told him she didn’t love him anymore. He lost a close friend to suicide.

As the heaviness crowded him out, he began searching for something to dispel the clouds around him. He decided to write a blog called 1000 Awesome Things.

The blog focused on all the little things he enjoyed in life and took for granted. Little pleasures that came his way every day. He would write about one item a day.

This new bent on optimism caught on. Thousands began to read his blog. He turned it into a book. Now, he is out making speeches reminding people that things don’t always go as planned and encouraging them to keep living an awesome life no matter what comes their way.

He says that there are 3 A’s to Awesome.

The first A is Attitude.

Pasricha believes that when bad things happen, you can either twirl in despair or decide to step ahead. Sober, sure. Realistic, sure. But forward nonetheless.

The second A is Awareness. 

Pasricha points to three-year-olds as an illustration. He says the neat thing about three-year-olds is that they experience so many things for the first time. His idea is that we commence missing out on an awesome life when we become dull to the things around us that are blessings.

The final A is Authentic. 

Pasricha says that many people don’t pursue the things they are truly interested in. He encourages people to quit doing what they don’t feel is their thing and explore their authentic desires.

At the end of the speech I saw, he reminded us life is limited and rare. He says we won’t be as young as we are right now. He reminds us to be intentional about what attitude we adopt. He reminds us to be intentional about being aware of the true blessings around us and to be authentic about what we choose to do. All those things, he says, lead to a rich life.

And I think he may be on to something.