During a recent bus ride home, a woman spent most of the journey on the phone telling a friend about an earlier confrontation with a stranger. Annoyance over her sweeping generalizations about Dominicans aside, I wondered why she was spending so much energy not only dwelling on an argument with someone she'll never see again, but also sharing it with someone who wasn't even there. Was she looking to rile them up and receive validation for how she handled herself? Who knows, but I was getting exhausted just having to hear about it all the way home.
And yet I'm the same way. I let negative parts of the day, experience, or people take up much too much mind space and then in a subconscious mission to rope people into the misery, I share those bits with others. It's not that some events don't warrant attention especially if you really need help sorting those feelings out, but the insignificant ones should really be brushed off your shoulder and not given more thought than necessary. Surely there are bigger things that merit your time and energy and happier moments that could stand to be savored - like the cute baby that actually responded to your silly faces with a smile, arriving at your transfer point just as your second train is pulling in, or taking a sip from your cup to discover that the barrista finally got your order right. Why can't we share those snippets instead?
So tell me, what little things made your day a wee bit happier today?
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