It all began back in November 2014, with one of those old-school Facebook challenges. An organization was encouraging people to share one happy or positive moment each day. After one hundred days, they promised to send you a little gift. I looks so cringe right now, but you know, I was young…So I joined. I shared, wrote, noticed.
The gift never arrived, but I received something better. I discovered first hand that focusing on something good – even for just a few seconds – can change how your brain works. You know me… I’ve always find neuroplasticity fascinating, I love habits, and I believe that beauty can be found anywhere. So I guess I was hooked, and decided to keep going, just adding a few lines each day to a growing Word file.
The file became 365 happy days. Then 1000 happy days. Then 2000 happy days. And a simple doc slowly shifted into a kind of meditation, something that stretched quietly over years. A few days after I finally reached 3000 days, that file, stored safely in the cloud (or so I thought) suddenly stopped opening because of a random bug. I checked my physical backup, and it ended at day 2938. I smiled. Maybe it was destiny’s way of saying: “you got the point“. I stopped.
When I look back at those 2938 days (and no, I won’t share the file with you…), one of the biggest realizations is how hard it is to find a day completely devoid of something positive. Even when things fall apart – a relationship ends, work feels impossible, you lose someone you love – you will be able to find a small thread of light. Sometimes, in fact, the challenge is the opposite: having too many good things and needing to choose just one.
What also surprises me is a specific pattern. More than half of those happy moments are about food: a glass of good wine, an Italian espresso shared with someone, a dinner that lingers longer than expected. Of course, there are lots of moments related to music, art, work, love, and quiet spiritual reflections, but food is a constant recurring element. Maybe because finding a good gelato is simple (well, at least in Italy…). Maybe because it grounds you. Or maybe because it’s one of the easiest ways to train your brain to notice joy.
Last night I was wrapping up my U.S. trip and getting ready to fly to Mexico, but I decided to cut a few hours of sleep to stop at my favorite burger place in Cambridge (and not only in Cambridge): Bartley’s. Sitting there, surrounded by stories of Al Pacino, Johnny Cash, and all the other legends who once sat in that same space, I realized that a burger pic would have been a perfect happy day entry for that 2014 challenge.
You know I don’t usually share food pics on social media, but sometimes a cheeseburger, a pint, and a bunch of tasty onion rings can be more than an image.
They can be quiet reminder that happiness still has room to exist – in the simple, the ordinary, and the most unexpected places.
