It was such a small thing—a bottle of water slightly out of place—but for Jennifer Aniston, it meant more than most people would ever guess.
During a routine interview on a sunny afternoon in Los Angeles, Jennifer Aniston sat across from a young journalist who was clearly excited, if not a little nervous, to meet her. The room was perfectly set: soft lighting, two armchairs angled just right, a small table between them holding two bottles of water and some neatly folded napkins.
As the camera crew finished setting up and the mics were checked, Jennifer sat down gracefully, smiling warmly to ease the atmosphere. But before the interview began, she paused. Her smile remained, but her eyes drifted toward the table.
Without saying a word, she reached out, lifted the bottle of water from the right side of the table, and gently placed it to her left.
The interviewer blinked. For a brief moment, there was confusion. Had he done something wrong? Was there a protocol he’d missed?
Jennifer noticed his awkward shift in posture and leaned in kindly, her tone calm and almost apologetic.
“Don’t worry,” she said, “It’s not you. It’s just… a thing I do.”
The interview carried on seamlessly after that—charming, thoughtful, full of the signature wit and grace Jennifer is known for. But once the cameras stopped rolling, curiosity got the better of the interviewer.
“Can I ask you something?” he said hesitantly. “About the water bottle?”
Jennifer laughed. “I knew you were going to ask,” she said. Then she explained—and what she said stayed with him long after the interview ended.
“I’ve been putting my water bottle on the left side since around 2008,” she said. “Even though I’m right-handed. It’s something I picked up from a meditation coach I was working with back then.”
Jennifer recounted how, during one particularly chaotic year in her life—balancing work, press, personal changes—she had turned to meditation as a way to re-center herself. A coach she worked with gave her a piece of advice that sounded simple but carried surprising weight: do one small thing every day that forces your brain to adapt.
“It could be brushing your teeth with the opposite hand,” she said. “Or walking a different route to work. Or, in my case, always reaching for things on my non-dominant side. It sounds silly, but it’s like a mental reset. It keeps you from living completely on autopilot.”
So she chose the water bottle. Always to her left. A small act of mindfulness that followed her from film sets to interviews, from her home kitchen to red carpet events.
“People don’t really notice it,” she added. “But it reminds me to stay a little uncomfortable. To keep my brain engaged, even in tiny ways. And in a business like this, where everything can feel scripted or repetitive, that matters more than you’d think.”
The interviewer later described the moment as “quietly profound.” What looked like a simple gesture—moving a water bottle—was actually a window into how Jennifer Aniston keeps herself present, grounded, and mentally agile in an industry that’s constantly trying to shake people off balance.
In the end, the lesson had little to do with the water itself, and everything to do with intention.
It’s often said that success comes from mastering the big things. But in Jennifer’s case, her longevity, her calm, and her ability to surprise us—even after all these years—might just come from how she handles the smallest things.
Like where she puts her water bottle.
