When it comes to listening to the issues of the people we care about, we so often try to say the right thing and end up saying the wrong thing. Or we worry that we're going to say the wrong thing, and say nothing (my specialty). But those days are now at an end. I'm just going to slap a magnet on everybody in the world, regardless of whether I know what his or her problems are:

A friend of mine recently handed me one of these. I hugged him so hard his head went wobbly. Then I said, "Can you give me nine more?"

"It's a magnet," he said. "How many refrigerators do you have?"

I said, "I'm at a point where I need to stick these puppies up even places they don't actually stick."

Back at home, with the help of Scotch tape, I posted them in every place in my house where I need the Invisible God of Encouragement to tell me that I wasn't alone and that I could, if I reached deep, keep going. Yes, I could make some kind of gluey pasta dinner (forgot to defrost the chicken) while hard-boiling eggs for tomorrow's lunch (husband ate the lunch meat) while sitting on hold with computer support (screen went black) while watching my 5-year-old try to dry his sopping wet sneakers (failed to buy a backup pair even though his school has a tennis-shoes-only policy) with a tiny plastic fan that is supposed to blow bubbles out of his bubble-making water gun.

Cynthia Gray, the artist that creates these magnets, has given out over 9,000 of them. "Each time," she says, "the response from everybody is pretty much the same—a gasp, and then 'Hey, I really, really needed that.'"  

Gray distributes the magnets in person or via various fans around the country who sign up on her website to be "distributors" and who live everywhere from Tokyo to Calgary to Pittsburgh. The magnets are sold to distributors at cost (25 for $30 or 100 for $95) who hand them out to whomever they feel needs one.

"The project has been going for 10 years," says Gray. Originally, it was developed as a response both to her daily struggle to keep creating art and her brother's unexpected suicide. "I wanted people to remember what makes life worthwhile. Not in cheesy way. But just that we all have to continually address the goal, How can I make meaning for myself?"