This has been a year for the history books, and a lot of it has been bad.
But not all of it.
A recent article got me thinking about the importance of focusing on the good things. In this case, the author forgot his wallet on a train in England and despaired of getting it back.
Need cheering up after a terrible year? I may have just the story you’re looking for
Spoiler alert: A considerate person found it and returned it to him.
Good things happen. Strangers help strangers, neighbors come through in emergencies, people work together to support good causes, and much more.
I try to focus here on the more positive dimensions of life, but it can be hard to do when so much of the world is looking the other direction. Social and other media do their best to highlight the dramatic, the car crashes, the bad news. I get it, it sells, and humanity is programmed to pay attention to problems so we can avoid them.
But I’m certainly not alone in thinking that we’ve gone too far in that direction.
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A lot of positive things have happened this year, in the worlds of science, of technology, of society, and more. Need a source of happier news? I may have promoted this site before but I’m going to do it again, because David Byrne and his mission deserve it.
We tell stories that reveal that there are, in fact, a surprising number of reasons to feel cheerful…. Reasons to be Cheerful was founded by artist and musician David Byrne, who believes in the power of approaching the world with curiosity—in art, in music, in collaboration and in life….Through stories of hope, rooted in evidence, Reasons to be Cheerful aims to inspire us all to be curious about how the world can be better, and to ask ourselves how we can be part of that change.
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In some ways, it’s also been a challenging year personally, but alongside the difficult we’ve also had the encouraging.
Before I go to bed I try to ask myself, “What was good today?” Even on the worst days there’s at least one good thing.
Friends (multiple!) put out some terrific new stories. Saving baby squirrels. Donating to help our community. Hiking in the woods. Ice cream after.
Those are just a few of my good things. What are yours?
“Find the good. It’s all around you. Showcase it and you’ll start believing in it.”
— Jesse Owens
Happy New Year!
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J.R. Johnson 
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