I didn’t trust the thermometer reading. The room was surely warmer than what the gauge showed.

What I discovered is that the wall where the thermostat was mounted — that wall was particularly cold. The device was accurate; it was just measuring the temperature of the wall, not the air.

* * *

What’s close to us — what we allow to be close to us — can have profound effects. Our surroundings and our environment … they matter. But not nearly as much as what we keep close.