What Kind of World Do You Want?
Living Happy
Yesterday at the grocery store I was stuck in line behind this guy who wasn't the handsomest man in the world. He was the kind of guy that TV news documentaries or reality shows or TikTok users would fuzz out his face and comment on his body size or his taste in clothes or something snarky in an attempt to "enlighten" us viewers.
He put the little divider thing between our conveyer belt right between our grocery store orders. Then he did this sneaky quick glance at me out of the corner of his eye.
Since I am the type of person WHO LOVES all people who remember to put the dividie thing in between grocery orders I smiled way too big (He probably saw my gums, poor man) and said, "THANKS!"
This was a totally nothing thing for me. I was just super psyched that he did that and I didn't have to reach around. But then he turned and smiled back and really looked at me and he shrugged and said, "You're welcome."
And after that we were friends and we got to hang out in the super long line together, and when he left we waved goodbye, and I worried about his day, and whether he'd drink all those Gatorades in one gulp.
And then the check-out girl was all, "Do you know him?"
And I said, "No."
"Oh," she said. "You seem like you know him."
And I wish I did know him better because he was SOOOOOO nice and now I care about him, this stranger guy.
And, yeah, he probably has already forgotten all about it, but the thing is, we got to talk in the first place because he cared enough to put that divider thing down. How cool is that?
Here are some cool links about happiness.
Here’s a story about a wild parrot who fell in someone who was kind to them. Spoiler: They did not meet at a grocery story.
A bit about the positive psychology of happiness.
And a heroic dog of awesome. This story has a happy ending, I promise!
Hey! I’m going to switch up the format for LIVING HAPPY a bit and share a Monday public post (like this one) with some happy links and then a paid-subscriber post on Saturdays. I hope that works for you all!