Hydrogen

Leave hydrogen alone long enough, and it will eventually start to document the origin of the universe.

A lot of mindfulness advice essentially comprises different strategies for looking at the world differently — to change the stories you're telling yourself in order to see your situation a bit more objectively.

When you're feeling stressed, anxious, or otherwise underwater, having tactics to help you resurface — even if only for a moment — can make a big difference.

So here's a reminder from astronomer and cosmologist Edward Robert Harrison you can hold on to when you're in need of a little perspective:

"Hydrogen is a light, odorless gas, which, given enough time, turns into people."

Or, leave hydrogen alone long enough, and it will eventually start to document its origin.

We are a product of the universe's attempt to understand itself.

As philosopher and writer Alan Watts put it:

"We do not 'come into' this world; we come out of it, as leaves from a tree. As the ocean 'waves,' the universe 'peoples.' Every individual is an expression of the whole realm of nature, a unique action of the total universe.”