"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." - From Shakespere's Hamlet

That quote has been a fantastic driver of good feelings for me.

There's a pretty large category of things that are aggravating if you let them aggravate you, but not bothersome if not.

I've left Mongolia now, but my last week in town, there was some pretty serious construction going on right next to my building.

I'd be trying to grab a nap or concentrate and the BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG would continue from next door.

At first, that was really bothersome. But I sat and thought on it for a while.

Hey, this is the sound of a civilization getting built up more. People are immigrating away from nomadic life out in the countryside gers and moving into apartment blocks. Construction is the sound of that process underway.

The noise still wasn't *enjoyable* after that, but it became certainly a lot better. Rather than just noise, it was a civilization building and modernizing more. Sure, it's noisy, but it's a good thing.