Appreciating the small joys in life allows you to build a better outlook and improve the way in which you respond to challenges.
Important work in positive psychology suggests that happiness in life comes from the frequency, not the intensity, of positive versus negative emotional experiences
— Alison Wood Brooks (Get Excited: Reappraising Pre-Performance Anxiety as Excitement)
The more frequent we experience positive feelings. The happier we are.
5 small things to appreciate and improve yourself and others in the process:
1. Not finding a perfect parking space
If you are like me, you a programmed to locate the ideal parking space every time you arrive in you destination. I map out a plan of action in my head to determine which isle to start and which direction to go to find the closet spot possible that accounts for other factors such ease of exit and proximity to a cart return.
Specifically, I have a system with the home improvement store that accounts for the fact that most people unequally attribute weight to their proximity to the entrance more that that of the exit therefore leaving more spaces available nearer to the exit.
OK, maybe you aren’t as crazy as I am, but the important thing is that even not finding the perfect space is not the end of the world. 16 more steps coming an going to our destination is not going to lead to an untimely death.
Those 16 steps give us an opportunity to enjoy being outside, appreciate the day and escape our over-optimized modern life for a few seconds.
2. Throwing a pen into a cup
One of the things I like to do entertain myself frequently is tossing my pens back into their cup sitting on my desk. Recently, I upgraded by cup to a $9 bamboo pen holder, but the game remains the same.
The chances are probably 1/10 that a actually get the pen to land in is proper home from a couple feet away, but when I do it’s the tits.
I’m not saying that I strategically designed this little game to improve my outlook in life, but it does inadvertently give me the opportunity to appreciate that sometimes things work out they way I plan.
3. The crispy part of the chicken
Clearly, I am an omnivore.
Properly salting and pan frying skin-on chicken produces one of the most exhilarating experiences the culinary world has to offer.
The one bite that includes the caramelized skin is simply euphoric.
Everyone has their food obsessions. Don’t forget to appreciate the moment.
4. Fixing something
I grew up in a household with no handyman. Sorry dad. As I grew up I realized that, while I am certainly no skilled craftsman I can, with the right know-how and little effort, make improvements to the world.
Google is a powerful tool. If you have an appliance that is broken spend 10 minutes looking it up and you will probably find that it isn’t that hard to fix it.
Sure, you are probably going to spend $10 on a 30 cent part and pay $5.95 to ship it, but what is that worth when the alternative is finding someone to help you out or paying someone a whole lot more than $15.95.
Plus, it feels great to fix something.
5. Sharing a meal with someone you care about
No one is going to deny that spending time important people we love is one of the greatest things out there, but how often do we over-schedule and over-optimize our lives that we forget to spend time with the people that we love.
The more things we categorize and recognize as “good”, the happier we are.
John Knox 