This weekend I went on a long bike ride across the city with my friend Ev (who, by the way, just recently got married. Congratulations again to you both!). This was not a ride to pump my feeble Strava stats, but a ride to see and explore our wonderful city. And once again I was reminded that one of the easiest ways to fall in love with Toronto is to get on a bike and ride across it. Biking offers the best of both worlds: it's both fast and efficient, and it's granular. You can easily slow-ride through smaller spaces or quickly get off and walk them.

If I'm ever in the mood to elicit a shitstorm of negative reactions, all I have to do is go on Twitter and tweet something pithy about how much I love Toronto. I don't know why so many people seem to react like this, but I genuinely feel this way about our city. City-building is a slow process, but a spring ride after a cold winter will reveal to you all of the projects we've been working on quietly in the background: new streets, new mid-block connections, new public spaces, new businesses, and beautiful architecture.

Of course, not all of it is exceptional. At one point, Ev and I came across two newly constructed courtyards in the middle of large developments that will remain unnamed. One was beautiful and held the promise of businesses and F&B lining its edges, while the other was empty and grim looking. We then turned to each other and said: "Isn't it amazing how different these not-so-different courtyards are?"

But objectively, there's so much that we are getting right. New streets are now subdividing formerly large, unwalkable blocks. Existing neighbourhoods are growing, adding sustained urban vibrancy. New megaparks, like Biidaasige Park in the Port Lands, have already become fantastic, well-used spaces, setting the stage for new urban neighbourhoods to crop up all along their edges. And many of our new buildings are, quite frankly, gorgeous.

Most importantly, though, people are using these spaces — a lot. They're filling sidewalks, hanging out on patios, and cycling on new bike lanes. It's easy to focus on the things that Toronto isn't or doesn't have, just like it's personally easy to focus on what you may not be or have. Bringing positivity doesn't mean ignoring the challenges that our city is facing, but being grateful for everything we are achieving is a great way to reframe our perspectives toward an abundance mindset.

If you're looking for an easy way to do that, try getting on a bike on a beautiful sunny day.