Dear Hardcore Friends, 🖤

Good news:

- People are good. With Big #Hearts. More often than not. Given a chance ❤️
- Bougher... or is that Power hungry are very often knot. And can get knotted if rotten to the roots 👅
- War has been declared #illegal. Oh wait that was, is and remains the #MLK #Peace Dream 💤
- Woke up younglings are the Peaceniks, #anarchists and agents of #changelings 🏴 🕶️ 🥰
- Offal is not awful [#lobster top tip for failed #frugal vegans] 🦞

and now for #3good things

1. Me. I am a very good thing. Almost #excellent if not better or battered 😉

2. It is #Spring in London and the bunnies will be hopping and #hoping through the #garden #allotments 🐰

3. Three is a magick number. #Bless you All. Go in Peace and 'be most excellent to each other'. 🌈 🦖 👻 💌

3GoodThings, Paying it Forward, Appreciating Neighbours and Changing Teenagers

Is it me or does every day this week feel like Friday? A few folks at work were saying the same thing. Maybe I’m looking forward to this holiday more than I thought. As I mentioned, I have no special holiday-related plans. However, I know there will be a trip to the Art Gallery of Ontario for sure as there are a few new exhibits starting. I also have a plan to spend lots of time reading. Spending several hours a day reading sounds like such a great way to spend a week or so, doesn’t it?

Here are my good things for today:

1. Sage is cooking again tonight and I don’t have a bike ride planned so that means extra time relaxing and spending time with everyone. (Also she’s making fish which is a huge happiness!)
2. I’m finished my second week of the FTP builder program on Zwift. Hoping this improves my power for racing during the winter and more importantly for hills and speedy travel to Montreal in the summer.
3. I am appreciating living close to work and commuting by bike more and more. I can get home in 20 minutes so I often get home before 4:30 PM. That means I can toss in a bike ride or making dinner, write an entry here and stil have time to relax afterward. I feel like if you’d packaged the rent increase we ended up paying as my buying extra free time I would’ve done it. (I guess this is what people do – or sometimes think they do – with owning a car)

Good things in the world:

Imagine being a nine year old girl missing part of your arm and having your heath insurance provider deny the claim as “Not medicallly necessary” despite her doctors advising them otherwise. But then a GoFundMe raises enough money to pay for it. But then it gets so much attention another crowdfunding platform decides to pay for it and says “Do what you like with the $30k you’ve raised for your arm.” Do you know what she did? She gave it to someone else who needed an arm.

Sometimes people are just such an integral part of a neighbourhood you have to go above and beyond to appreciate them. This is the case with a seamstress, Queeny, who has been working for years in Leslieville in Toronto. People in the neighbourhood loved and appreciated her so much they all turned out to have a big party to show their love. You can see photos and read more here.

This is a shock, in a good way: There’s been an “unprecedented” decline in teenage drug use. I’ve heard a bit of this anecdotally from our son who is in his 20s. It’s pretty exciting given how much our generation did – and I feel like our parents’ generation did even more. The stories of casual DUI my family would talk about (Ok, and sometimes did still) were crazy.

Take care and don’t forget to check out “Advent of Joy” and find an act of kindness or self care to do every day this month.

#3Good #3GoodThings #compassion #Cycling #GoodNews #gratitude #Kindness #KindnessMatters #li #libraries #Library #life #positivity #snow #winter

3GoodThings and Happiness from Benign Existence

Some people count down for Christmas but we don’t celebrate Christmas. We do appreciate the holiday time off but otherwise it’s not something we get excited about.

On the other hand, something I get very excited for is winter solstice. After all, that’s the longest night of the year. After that the days get longer and soon after the weather starts warming.

On the other hand, in previous years, especially when Daegan was young we sometimes went downtown to Kensington Market for the Winter Solstice Festival. What an amazing atmosphere. Check it out! (and if you liked the highlight reel below there’s more here.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67TMjVqNKyg

Here are my good things for today:

1. Thai basil chicken for dinner – and I didn’t have to make it!
2. It looks like my vacation is approved and will be the full two weeks. More than enough time to cycle out to Montreal (in 3 days or less), spend a little time there and then turn around and head back home. With that locked in I’m feeling pretty inspired about training.
3. While there was no snow during my ride, and only a little in the middle of the day, the atmosphere on the morning’s ride was fantastic. Hardly anyone out, dark and mysterious but not too cold. Have a look:

Good things in the world:

I hate to say it, but I’m getting really obsessed with BenignExistence. There really is something about the simplicity of them. They’re not huge joys, nobody is winning the lottery or saving kids from burning buildings (not that there’s anything wrong with that – I shared that yesterday). But the thing I like about these is that they show everyday kindness and gratitude. It’s the reading equivalent of simple but wholesome food. It just makes you feel good.

Here are some posts I loved.

Found a necklace my little brother got me 15 years ago

I was obsessed with dragons as a kid (still kind of am), and would voraciously consume any media with them in it. My little brother in elementary school must have been about 9 years old when he used his allowance to buy a dragon pendant necklace for me out of the Scholastics book catalog (iykyk). I wore that necklace everyday and was heartbroken when the cheap chain broke and the pendant got lost. My mom must have found it because I saw it when I was looking through my old things in my childhood bedroom.

I was also pretty obsessed with dragons and fantasy books and movies in general when I was a teenager. Every few years if I’m feeling down I will read Tolkien and it brings me back there.

Whole family is home for the holidays

My sister and her husband live across the country and always visit for the holidays. My sister arrived a few weeks ago, which has been awesome, and her husband arrived this morning. I don’t live with my parents, but I stay over during the holidays, so the house is finally full again (my parents, me, my brother, and my sister and her husband), and it feels so nice. I look forward to this all year, and it’s finally here! Can’t wait to play some board games and do some baking with everyone.

While there were family Christmases for me growing up and sometimes there was a bit of that feeling there was often a bit of family drama as well to detract from it. But I do get the feeling they’re talking about above. That’s kind of how it feels every day here lately.

Helped a little girl who was afraid to get her shots

Every week I get two allergy shots. I went today and there was a girl (8-ish) who was getting hers for the first time. She was scared and crying. I told her to watch me get my shots. I said see you- doesn’t even hurt. She stopped crying but was still nervous. Then I told her I would give her $1 if she’d get her shots. Her face lit up. She got both her shots and realized that it didn’t really hurt. I gave her $1 per shot so she was so happy. Her mother was so relieved and thankful. I was having a crappy day until then, but left feeling better.

Isn’t it funny how sometimes the best cure for having a crappy day is helping make someone else’s day better?

Take care and don’t forget to check out “Advent of Joy” and find an act of kindness or self care to do every day this month.

#3Good #3GoodThings #compassion #Cycling #GoodNews #gratitude #Kindness #KindnessMatters #li #libraries #Library #life #positivity #snow #winter

3GoodThings and Kindness Big and Small

Another work from home day and another day ticking off so many items from my to-do list! Seriously. Could this not be every day? No, the answer is no. I do have to go in sometimes. But hey, only another week left before my holiday break starts so there’s that.

Here are my good things for today:

1. Something has definitely changed in my winter attitude. I saw tomorrow’s forecast includes light snow and I’m excited to ride to work in it. WHO AM I?!?
2. Ahead of the game with my end of year preparations business-wise. Still need to get together some receipts and such but considering I didn’t even have everything put together by April this year, I’m pretty thrilled.
3. Tonight my to-do list has nothing but writing this entry. This means the whole family is going to watch more Ludwig – a new David Mitchell show. We’ve watched a bit already and it’s awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXULyZeOp8k

Good things in the world:

Holy cow. This story! In the video below we see from the point of view of a police bodycam. They advise the firefighter about who is likely to be inside. As he heads toward the building he’s met by a pizza delivery person coming out with a kid. In the end we see him clearly in rough shape being attended to by EMS and he says “Is the baby okay? Please tell me the baby’s okay.” (yes, they’re OK.)

https://www.reddit.com/r/nextfuckinglevel/comments/1047wzr/25_yo_pizza_delivery_man_runs_into_burning_house/

I love this idea (and the book he found it in, Atomic Habits is also pretty great). Who’d have thought leaving encouraging notes inside books on self-improvement? Excellent idea!

Finally, yet another really lovely “Benign Existence” post. (I love these – watch for more!)

Do you remember what made/taught you to be kind?

Do you look back and remember what made you want to be kind to others? Today I was thinking about what made me be this soft and kind to others besides my mom and sisters. This little 4 year old changed my whole life on my 5th birthday when my mom set up a party for the whole school and many people had brought me little gifts but she hadn’t because her parents didn’t have money to spare like that (her mom told my mom, and said sorry) , so she took out her beaded bracelet (the only one she had) and gave it to me when it was her turn to give me a hug. Then I returned the bracelet and one of the gifts that I had liked best (my mom’s idea). I do not know where she is now but that moment made me. That’s how I learned to be kind. I still can’t believe that I remember this after so long (I’m 21 now) and how it shaped me.

Take care and don’t forget to check out “Advent of Joy” and find an act of kindness or self care to do every day this month.

#3Good #3GoodThings #compassion #Cycling #GoodNews #gratitude #Kindness #KindnessMatters #li #libraries #Library #life #positivity #snow #winter

3GoodThings, Kindness of Strangers and the Joy of the Mundane

It’s always good to work from home but on days when there’s a lot of work to be done it’s even better. No interruptions, just focused work. I got so much done!

Here are my good things for today:

1. Working from home today meant not only getting lots done, it meant spending time with my family at meals and getting a workout in early. I do like my bike commute, but if I could work from home every single day it would be amazing.
2. I found a new get back to sleep trick that is so simple and seems to work. A few weeks back I was waking in the middle of the night, sometimes even getting out of bed and reading or watching TV for an hour. Now I count backwards from 100. I know, everyone knows this one and it’s so simple but at least for now it’s doing the trick. I am not sure I even get much below 90. So not only did I not wake up for a long time last night, I didn’t wake at all. I lay down at bedtime and got up 7 hours later to make coffee. Heaven.
3. There’s a certain feeling to really not wanting to do something you know is good for you and that you need to do and then just doing it. I had a relatively short ride to do – about an hour and not even that strenuous but still, I feel like I’m recovering from being out so late Saturday and I really just wanted to watch TV and do nothing. But I got on the bike, put on a podcast where Jenny Graham talked about her ride to set the record for fastest unsupported woman to ride around the world. Then when that was over I put on loud 80s music and just did it. And do you know what? The “I don’t wanna” feeling was gone almost the minute I started pedalling. I liked what Jenny Graham said about one of the ways she gets through that. She sets it up so she has to do the thing. For example, she didn’t bring a tent with her, just a sleeping bag and a light weight bivvy. (Basically a waterproof sleeping bag cover). This meant no dithering finding a place to sleep, if you fit it’s good. Then on bad weather days you don’t linger in the tent reading, having a coffee and not wanting to go out in the rain. You’re dry but stuck in a cocoon with no room. You must go. So it’s a matter of finding ways to remove the behavioural friction for the things I want to do and adding friction to those I don’t.

Good things in the world:

Most of the time I was in school I had positive or neutral experiences with other students. I was a bit of an introvert so only a few really got to know me and vice versa – many not until 30+ years later after Facebook came along). But I did have one year where I lived in a different city and went to a private school where I was the only new kid among many kids who had been there for many of the previous 8 years. And so I was picked on and even the teachers, who normally had been my friends and allies at other schools were not helpful – and a few were a bit derisive themselves. However, I did have a couple of friends there and I still remember them. This made me think of that:

Sage is very much not a fan of flying – no doubt in great part due to the tons of airplane disaster movies she watched as a kid in the early 1980s. So my role is much like that of the flight attendant in the photo below: explaining sounds and bumps, holding her hand. Like the person in the photo she also tries to sit in the aisle. That way she can avoid looking out the window (bonus if it can be closed) and just imagine that she’s in a bus that occasionally hits bumpy patches on the road.

As you likely have guessed, I find a number of good things over at Reddit. The thing about Reddit is that I find the bad subreddits can be pretty awful but the good are lovely. One person posted today looking for the most uplifting and benign subreddits and the responses were so good. One of my favourite ones I discovered there was this one: r/benignexistence which describes itself as “It’s okay to have a benign existence. Share your stories of the vanilla and mundane.” It almost feels like an infinite feed of “3 Good Things” things shared by all sorts of people. I like it because while I try to share lots of really unique and positive stories here, the reality for me is that my level of happiness is not dictated by those sorts of things. It’s the same sort of thing as happiness not coming from an amazing tropical vacation or a night out on the town. It’s the “vanilla and mundane” things we notice happening in my life that makes it feel calm, happy and normal. This is the stuff that recharges me. It’s the same thing that helped me get through the pandemic. Outside our apartment was chaos and uncertainty. Inside the house was a family who loves each other sharing meals, laughing and sometimes working through disagreements together. All these little mundane things added together form that base on which we build our happiness. And the more we notice and cultivate them the happier we can be – even when outside there is chaos. Here are a couple of examples:

An Entertaining Roomba

The last time I visited my parents, I bought them a mopping roomba to help with house cleaning so they didn’t have to manually vacuum.

My parents, bless them, are absolutely FASCINATED by this little round machine whizzing around the house😆

Dad has named the roomba after his favorite childhood stray dog, that he used to care for during his college days. Mum goes around following the roomba, giving appreciative commentary and removing obstacles from its path –

“Oh wow look at that he got that tough spot too!” “What a good boy!” “Poor thing must be tired let’s give him a break”

Their friends who come home MARVEL at the roomba doing its business. Imagine a bunch of 65+ year old adults going gaga over this device zooming around the house.

It is daily entertainment for my parents to watch Sancho the Roomba.

Mum and Dad are absolutely adorable! 😭

And this one

My husband of more than 30 years is sound asleep, and he just started giggling like a little boy

I’m reading in bed next to him, and had to stifle my own laughter to avoid waking him up. He’s been dealing with a lot of stress, hopefully the giggles mean he’s decompressing in his dreams.

Take care and don’t forget to check out “Advent of Joy” and find an act of kindness or self care to do every day this month.

#3Good #3GoodThings #compassion #Cycling #GoodNews #gratitude #Kindness #KindnessMatters #li #libraries #Library #life #positivity #snow #winter

3GoodThings, Firefighters and Toronto-based Kindness

Today was a very lazy day for me. I woke up late but still had very little sleep. Last night Sage and I were out and didn’t get home until nearly midnight. Imagine this – we usually are in bed and asleep before 10:00 PM! I still got a fair number of things done and still a few to go.

Here are my good things for today:

1. Last night we went to visit a friend we hadn’t seen in a long time and she cooked a huge Ethiopian meal for us and some other really interesting people we hadn’t met before. As homebodies and introverts it is something we don’t often do but I’m so glad we did it.
2. After coffee and breakfast I went back to bed for a nice one hour nap. Sage manged to sleep almost four hours before I woke her up as I knew she had a Zoom meetup to go on.
3. As sleepy as I still am I still managed to get out to the grocery store and do some much-needed stocking up. Perhaps the reason I was able to do this relates to what I’ll term item 3a: we still had a little bit of vegan chocolate pie left and I had that after lunch.

Good things in the world:

In the year 2000, a firefighter rescued a toddler and his dad from a burning building, eventually resuscitating the toddler, saving his life. Last year the toddler, now grown up was able to meet the man who saved him – and introduce him to his own toddler. As an added bonus, the toddler the firefighter saved eventually became a firefighter. The story is here.

Thanks to Samantha of Fit is a Feminist Issue for passing this on. I hadn’t heard of this one. So a cat escaped from its carrier when its human was getting off the streetcar. And then (this is seriously my own nightmare when travelling with our cats in the city), it decided to bolt under the streetcar and hide. The streetcar stopped and, as the Reddit post says:

People rushed to nearby stores to get brooms to try to force the cat out, and when that failed, they got tape to connect two brooms together for even more reach. 

Videos posted online of the incident, including one provided to the Star by Ian Clarke, a commuter who got off one of the streetcars stuck behind the commotion, show several people, including the owner, lying on the downtown street reaching blindly under the streetcar with brooms or their bare hands.

The cat still wouldn’t move so the impromptu rescue crew went back to nearby stores to buy cat food and shawarma to lure the cat out while others stopped oncoming traffic in the opposite lane. At one point, six or seven streetcars were lined up behind them, Millar said. 

“We’re slowing traffic on the one side, we’re all on our hands and knees, there’s six or seven of us that were really involved in it, and then eventually, just with the sweep of the broom, the cat kind of ran in my direction,” Millar said. 

You can see the moment they managed to catch the cat:

And finally, with some more Toronto-related content, several years ago, the Lemon Bucket Orkestra (participants in the blackout party shared in a previous entry) was on a flight to Frankfurt that was delayed on the tarmac. Not to be discouraged, they entertained the passengers with a free concert.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEzlrzgRp3Y

Take care and don’t forget to check out “Advent of Joy” and find an act of kindness or self care to do every day this month.

#3Good #3GoodThings #compassion #Cycling #GoodNews #gratitude #Kindness #KindnessMatters #li #libraries #Library #life #positivity #snow #winter

3GoodThings, The Kindness of Strangers: Corporate and Individual

Today I’m writing early because we’re actually going out to visit a friend we haven’t seen in years. It’s strange to be writing while it’s light outside.

Here are my good things for today:

1. Living in Toronto makes it so easy to practice Hindi almost every where I go. Often new colleagues hear from others I speak it and are surprised that I’m able to – and to do it reasonably well.
2. I owe so much of my skill to a great Hindi teacher, Mitali, who has sacrificed 5 hours almost every weekend since 2018 to work with me.
3. It’s pretty funny when people discover that I am able to speak Hindi and I love the happy surprise it is for people. Sometimes if I’m in a grocery store or restaurant and hear the person behind the counter speaking Hindi with colleagues or another customer I’ll just join in. The shock is very satisfying. It’s especially funny that some of my vocabulary can be a bit literary / shudh compared to, say, what you’d hear in a Bollywood film, for example. Colleagues from places where Hindi is often a second language (Ahmedabad, Mumbai) tell me that some of the words I use they haven’t heard since they were in school. On the other hand, a colleague from Indore has no trouble as there is more shudh Hindi spoken there and even he speaks that way to the point his wife from Mumbai doesn’t always know what he says. I remember one day I was chatting by text in Hindi on Teams at work with a colleague from Mumbai and used the word “Rudivadi” (orthodox – I can be a bit of an orthodox reviewer of quality documents) with him. I later learned that he sent a message to my other colleague from Indore to find out what it meant. Regional differences in languages are so much fun. (This is one of my favourites: a map of the US of what people call pop, soda, or coke – when I was a kid it was always “soda” in central Vermont. Somehow now living in Toronto it has become “pop” though “cold drink” is what I find myself using in India.)

Good things in the world:

There are a ton of protests against a corrupt president in Korea happening lately. An anonymous donor has paid for $3,800 worth of coffee for the protesters. With protests going long hours and the weather being cold, this is a really lovely gesture.

Yes, I know, this is a corporate initiative and so the motives can be questioned. However, the impact is really great – free rides to get to job interviews and up to 3 weeks after until you get paid? That could make a huge difference. If you need to take advantage of this, you can find out more here.

This story from Reddit really warmed my heart. I love that they did this. Again, another seemingly little thing that could make a huge difference for someone:

I come across as a very reserved, judgmental person sometimes just because I’m very sensitive and shy. But I’m actually a huge softy. I wanted to be able to anonymously share one of my own random acts of kindness, just to put a good word out there for other women with resting b**** face.

I worked briefly as a cake decorator. It was a poorly managed grocery store bakery so people put in a lot of last minute cake requests and it was honestly chaos all the time. People usually called with an attitude and ridiculous expectations, so answering the phone wasn’t fun. But one day, I answered, and instead of yelling on the other end of the line, there was a very quiet voice. I didn’t even know if a person was there for a moment, that is how hesitant this caller was to speak. Right before I was about to hang up, she asked me if she would be able to use food stamps to pay for a birthday cake for her two year old son. It immediately broke my heart. Like, all the rage id been bottling from that shitty job that day just turned into a pit in my stomach. I told her yes, food stamps would be ok to use for the cake. She said he wanted dinosaurs. I managed to put together a nice cake even though it was last minute, with a toy dinosaur on top. I knew I’d be leaving before she came to pick it up, so I called and left her a voicemail that someone had decided to start a pay it forward chain in the bakery that day, so her cake had been paid for. Then I paid for the cake and left. I didn’t want her have to use her food stamps for a birthday cake. But I also didn’t want her to think I pitied her. The cake was gone the next day, so I know she got it. I hope he liked it! – Original Post

Take care and don’t forget to check out “Advent of Joy” and find an act of kindness or self care to do every day this month. Today the thing that came up for me was “Tidy up your workspace to improve focus.” Wait, my webcam is off. How did they know?

#3Good #3GoodThings #compassion #Cycling #GoodNews #gratitude #Kindness #KindnessMatters #li #libraries #Library #life #positivity #snow #winter

3GoodThings, The Kindness of Strangers, and Amazing Public Health News

(Today’s photo – from December 2019 – cycling in much warmer weather in Rajasthan)

I feel like today I proved my theory about the warmth of cycling versus riding the bus. Today I walked five minutes to catch the bus and it was about -10°C but no wind so it actually felt a little warmer at first than it did yesterday on the bike. While the bus was warm, I was headed to a restaurant to meet my boss for breakfast. I got there 15 minutes before they opened and had to stand outside and wait. And let me tell you, I was much warmer on the bike yesterday even though I was wearing more clothes today. The same was true for my 5 min waiting for the bus to get home and the 5 min walk home from the station. I was still outside for less time (25 min today versus 45 yesterday) but at no time yesterday was I uncomfortably cold. Score one for the bike.

Here are my good things for today:

1. Started the day with breakfast out. A “business breakfast” that was about 10 minutes catching up about work and the industry and then another hour of just chatting. Today I realized that I have been working in one company or another for this person for 20 years. That’s over half my working life. It’s evolved though from an actual project manager role directing my work as part of a company to more of a partnership where I deal with the work and the clients and they just handle the irritating commercial aspects. It’s a good deal for both of us. So I guess maybe “Boss” is no longer a really apt phrase.
2. I got home and hopped on the bike for a workout almost immediately. I am doing a plan to improve my cycling strength with the hopes to go faster and be quicker up hills, especially as I ride outdoors. I’m not so much looking at speed in terms of zooming past people in a race so much as the idea that I can finish long distances more quickly and cover them more quickly on tour. If I can average 20 km/hr when moving (which I’ve managed) then I can go 200 km in 10 hours. But if I can improve that average to 22 km/hr, now I’m able to do that in 9 hours 5 min. Or I can go 220 km in 10 hours. Either way on long endurance rides, it’s a bonus. But the good thing today is I set a personal record for most power I’ve ever delivered over 5 seconds: >921 watts!
3. Speaking of long endurance rides, I realized that I’m approaching the age of Dermot Higgins, the current record holder for circumnavigating the the world by bicycle. He did it when he was just a couple years older than me. You can read about that here. And while the logistics of money and time off from work are huge and possibly insurmountable, I realize that at least now I feel physically like I could leave for that today with no hesitation. I feel more fit than I have in my life including doing my longest ride ever (240+ km) just 6 months ago. It’s such a long shot to be able to do I am not really serious about it, but it is proving a fun project to look at others’ routes and imagine what mine might be while also still managing to comply with the strict rules to get in the record books. It’s a little easier for me because I’m aiming for age not speed so if I want to do a slower or more interesting route I can. The tricky part I see right now is getting through Asia. There are so many risky countries and countries that are outright no-go zones that I would have to be creative. The latest record winner actually stopped in Georgia and resumed in Australia so it’s possible to skip much of that though I’d hate to miss India and Southeast Asia. We’ll see… It’s a few years out before I’d leave and still a while before I’d even decide…

Good things in the world:

I love the way that a stranger honoured this person’s mom:

“Trail Angels” is a word people use, usually on the Appalachian trail to describe people who come out to meet and feed hikers or give them water, ice cream or other things they need (like a ride to town to get a shower). But as someone who has TWICE lost a wallet on a bike ride (and once recovered it thanks to a kind person), I think people like this should also be termed “Trail Angels”

And meanwhile, science, public health measures including women going to remote areas and using a culturally sensitive approach ensuring that female patients can overcome social barriers to access healthcare has resulted in a 93% reduction in malaria cases in India and a 68% reduction in fatalities. The full story is here.

Take care and don’t forget to check out “Advent of Joy” and find an act of kindness or self care to do every day this month. Today the thing that came up for me was “Do a quick workout to boost your energy levels.” Check!

#3Good #3GoodThings #compassion #Cycling #GoodNews #gratitude #Kindness #KindnessMatters #li #libraries #Library #life #positivity #snow #winter

3GoodThings and Timeline Cleansing Laughter

Winter temperatures truly arrived this morning with -8°C along with 40 km/hr winds. In. My Face. That means there was a wind chill of -17°C but having been out in a calm -17, I can say that’s more comfortable. First off because of how it feels but also because of how much harder it is to pedal. I generally make the trip to work in about 18-20 minutes. Today it was over 26. On the worst part I was going half the speed.

All of which is usually a recipe for grumpiness for me. It would feel personal. Here I am just having my day and it’s icy cold AND hard to ride. Today, though, I tried entering with a different attitude. You might know I read lots of travel books, and of course many “athletic travel” (cycling, running, rowing) and I have yet to read one of those books that was like “So when I circumnavigated the entire world, you wouldn’t believe it! Every day was beautiful, warm and sunny with a tailwind. And if it wasn’t? Well, I just declared it a rest day.” It doesn’t happen. And I know from my own experience that those times I go out on adventures – bike or not – I look back on getting through the hard parts as some of the most fun in retrospect. One of my favourite rides with Daegan was when we did an 80 km loop up to Musselman’s lake on a summer day. I knew there was a 40% chance of rain but we decided to risk it. What’s the worst that could happen? At lunch, near the lake we saw gathering clouds and ate a bit faster so we could head back. Within 30 minutes we could see the clouds rapidly approaching. We pulled into a gas station and took shelter next to the pumps and then the sky opened up. Daegan ran inside, grabbed coffees and snacks for us and we sat out the storm relaxing until the storm passed. And then there was the time we were four hours late to our host in Quebec because the path was impassable on our tandem bike and we brought the wrong light mounts and the batteries were dead anyway. And so we walked into the night as mosquitoes bit us and coyotes literally howled in the fields next to us. The whole story about that is here.

The common thing is that even as we were facing difficulty we were having fun and making the best of it – and the fun only increased in the memory of the event. This phenomenon even has a name: “Type 2 fun” – fun where it’s hard when you’re doing it but when you look back on it you’re happy.

And that’s what I realized this morning. I could put on all my warm layers, cover all my exposed skin and ride, watching carefully for all the frozen puddles. My heart rate got higher just on a quiet commute to work than it did in the previous night’s actual cycling workout. And it was great. After all, what is different from a story that is “Holy cow, the 40 km ride to the hotel was a nonstop headwind.” as you fondly reminisce about a bicycle touring vacation and the same adventures on a commute. And, less nice to myself, I preemptively scolded myself – if I’m not up for putting up with the tiny discomfort this morning, who am I to want to go on long and challenging multi-day adventures in far away places?

Here are my good things for today:

1. The Type 2 fun realization was really helpful. It made me look forward to my ride home. It felt colder but it was also faster and easier with the same wind now at my back.
2. Surprise! Today at work there was free holiday dinner in the cafeteria. It was pretty good. Carrot cake for dessert and for some reason every conference room seemed to have more cake. (I only had the one tiny piece though)
3. Though there are challenges with next year’s schedule figuring out how to fit in my charity ride to Montreal (and likely back unless VIA rail comes through with opening the bike racks on trains) with a huge schedule crunch at work. Though I am planning on riding to Montreal in 3 days, my return plan was going to be more leisurely. But today I realized I have options. I could try to squeeze it in to one week off at a 200km/day pace and still make it. It might be difficult but it’s still a slower pace than I’d aim for in the ultracycling event I’m considering. I’d have to get to Montreal and back in about 3.5 days (including sleep!) for that. Or I could switch to another out/back destination to get the 600 km in and do Toronto to Tobermory and back on the Canada Day weekend. (See Type 2 fun above!)

Good things in the world:

Sometimes watching laughter can be such a good thing and cheer you up. It’s a great timeline cleanse for your social media too.

I only recently heard foxes laugh – clearly they are loving this:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Awww/comments/1hcj76x/i_love_foxes/

Remember The Liberators from a couple of days ago getting people to sing Somewhere Over the Rainbow on the subway? This time they got one man to belly laugh on the train as he listened to his phone. However, laughter is contagious as we all know and before long many in the train were laughing with him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydAyvvDQrgY

Of course nothing beats the belly laugh of a baby – especially at something so simple!

https://www.reddit.com/r/MadeMeSmile/comments/1hcm4xt/just_awwww/

Take care and don’t forget to check out “Advent of Joy” and find an act of kindness or self care to do every day this month. Today the thing that came up for me was “Take a walk in nature and observe the surroundings.” No walk today but I feel like cycling through the fields and woods on the way to work – at a crawl thanks to the wind will count for that today.

#3Good #3GoodThings #compassion #Cycling #GoodNews #gratitude #Kindness #KindnessMatters #li #libraries #Library #life #positivity #snow #winter

3GoodThings and People Feeding People

This morning I was back on the bike and was so glad. The ride to work was surprisingly warm – 5°C. My friends in India are looking at me with horror but really, you’d be surprised at how manageable it is. I wear a thick cotton headband to keep my ears warm, put a helmet over that with a plastic cover over that to keep cold air and rain/snow out. On a day like this I wear a long sleeve cotton shirt and then a lightweight waterproof windbreaker over that. On the bottom I just wear jeans, socks and cycling shoes. I do have a couple of upgrades for different weather including full rain pants, waterproof shoe covers, a balaclava and also a wool neck gaiter to keep my neck and face warm. I wear thin gloves on a day like today but tomorrow it’s meant to be -5° and very windy (50-80 km/hr winds) so I will wear wool leggings and undershirt most likely and possibly even a hoodie over my work shirt. I will also wear heavy mittens. The tricky thing for me is to not overdress. If I do I will sweat and then if I stop for long outside I will get cold. So far I’ve avoided that mostly.

My commute has a bit of road but is 70-80% off road – some in a field under high voltage power lines, and then a bit through a forest. Here is the forested part. The sound you’re hearing that sounds like I am riding over gravel is not actually gravel, it’s a sound of the metal studs of my tires on the pavement.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DDcHJ9duHst/

Here are my good things for today:

1. Of course riding to work on a misty morning has to be one of these things.
2. My fitness tracker has been watching how hard I work versus how I’ve been riding and tells me my VO2Max has increased, meaning I am getting a little better at using oxygen as my muscles, heart and lungs become more efficient. I just entered the “Good” zone on the assessment. Still a long ways to go but I’m working on it including a structured exercise plan. Maybe it’s paying off?
3. At work today not only was I surprised with a lovely recognition award and lots of nice things said by my colleagues, my contract extension is official and I’ll have this lovely bike commute and these excellent colleagues for another year.

Good things in the world:

After air and water, food is an absolute necessity. In my opinion, it is a right – though so many have trouble getting enough to eat. I am really glad to see people step up where they can and often give others the chance to as well.

That photo is from the Nelson Street Pub in Pembroke, Ontario and is a really simple premise. If you have a few extra bucks and want to share, just buy a meal. Many grocery stores do similar things, creating packaged bags to buy that have a few meals’ worth of food in them. But what if you don’t have a kitchen to make it in? Then restaurants are about the only place you can get a hot meal. You can read more about it here.

During the pandemic remember seeing it at Sultan restaurant at Main Street and Danforth here in Toronto. There’s a pay it forward board there as well where customers can buy food for others. These little things can make a huge difference for those for whom finding a hot meal is a struggle. You can read more about it here.

And in Sudbury, Ontario, Sukhdev Restaurant has been giving out free meals as well. They originally set aside ten free meals for people in need but often end up giving more. You can find out more here.

Chef José Andrés has taken this to such a level that he was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. This chef started a nonprofit, World Central Kitchen that brings kitchens and cooks to places in crisis – from storms and floods in North Carolina and Spain to the situation in Gaza, they bring food and people to prepare it to where it is needed. You can learn more here.

Take care and don’t forget to check out “Advent of Joy” and find an act of kindness or self care to do every day this month. Today the thing that came up for me was “Read a few pages of a book you’ve been meaning to start.” After getting a few notifications about ebook holds coming in, this one’s going to be a breeze!

#3Good #3GoodThings #compassion #GoodNews #gratitude #Kindness #KindnessMatters #li #libraries #Library #life #positivity #snow #winter

3GoodThings and The Beauty of Libraries

Thanks to an after work social event out of town I took transit to work instead. Another day I didn’t have to ride in bad weather. Instead I relaxed and read. I did miss the chance to ride through the woods in the fog this morning and evening. Tomorrow is another day with a similar forecast so I didn’t miss it for good.

Here are my good things for today:

1. Work ended early for an off-site event so I finished my day in mid-afternoon. Still I got quite a bit of work done.
2. I had a fun and interesting conversation at lunch. People in my department are from a bunch of different parts of the world. And so we learned that Hansel and Gretel is “Ivica and Mirica” in Serbia and “Joao e Maria” in Brazil. (Is it something different where you are from?)*
3. Today’s event was for our whole large project team to go bowling. We had tons of fun, ate snacks and fun competition as well. Though my high score was only a little above 90, that managed to win the round so yay me!

* This conversation reminds me of one of my first Hindi writing projects I did that I ended up reading on broadcast radio in Toronto. The name in Hindi was Sunahri Baal. Do you know which English story this was?

Goldilocks – I did my best to translate the whole story. Instead of porridge, she stole the bears’ upma they left out to cool.

Good things in the world:

If you know anything about me you know I’m a huge fan of libraries. I’ve loved books all my life and some might say that a library even altered the course of my life for the better. (I have a tattoo to show for it!). They change everyone they touch. No, really!

For example, here in Toronto, libraries provide front line social services connecting people who need housing assistance, mental health counseling, and addiction resources among other things. They provide quiet spaces for people who may not have a quiet place to relax or study. In the winter they provide warmth. They host literacy programs and even have private rooms for Zoom interviews – and so much more. In this day and age, and not just in Toronto, libraries are so much more than just books. Find more about what they do here: Toronto Public Library offers mental health supports.

They connect strangers too! I love this beautiful story about a kid who wanted to hear a Spanish storybook but didn’t know Spanish ending up sparking an impromptu child-led storytime.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DDM9bR_PYOR/

You should definitely give Mychal a follow on all the social media if you’re not already. They’re an international treasure.

Finally, after the US was battered by hurricanes this autumn, libraries have become hubs for finding resources to survive and rebuild. Libraries Respond to Communities Hit by Hurricanes.

Take care and don’t forget to check out “Advent of Joy” and find an act of kindness or self care to do every day this month. Today the thing that came up for me was “Write a letter to your future self.” This is such a cool idea. I reminded 6 months from now me of all the things I periodically learn about how to keep my mood up like volunteering, eating healthy foods and limiting my coffee. And also that if I’m feeling down it’s probably because I haven’t been exercising so much. You can email yourself in the future here.

#3Good #3GoodThings #compassion #GoodNews #gratitude #Kindness #KindnessMatters #li #libraries #Library #life #positivity #snow #winter

3GoodThings and The Joy of Being Part of the Crowd

It was a good day to work from home for sure. Around lunch the posts on Teams talked about there being freezing rain happening to the north of us with treacherous roads happening soon and direction for people to leave early if they wanted. I had a dental appointment downtown so I wasn’t so worried – I’d take transit for that but had I biked to work I might have given those studded tires a real stress test.

Here are my good things for today:

1. A lot of my non-work trips are on the subway line. Our new apartment is less than 5 minutes away from the subway station so even though my appointment was downtown, I was only out in the weather for about 10 min total. The rest of the time was spent sitting and reading in a warm subway. I was warm and I didn’t even have to drive!
2. The outcome of the dental appointment was really positive. Everything looks good. This is really good because in my younger years I didn’t take care of my teeth well at all. Now I’m doing a bunch of remediation in the hopes of keeping as many teeth as I can for life. So far the possibilities are looking pretty good.
3. People are nice in lots of small ways. Yesterday Sage and I stopped at a shop that does shoe repair and making keys (why is this a common combo here?) to pick up a colour-coded cover for one of Sage’s keys. It was $0.50 but we had no cash. The charge for debit was as much as the item. He told us to just take it and pay back later but we both were not sure when we’d be back and didn’t want to forget so we said no. Today I passed by on my way to my appointment to pick it up. He scolded me for not taking it – “You should have taken it yesterday! I felt so bad!” when I told him I wasn’t sure I’d be back soon he said “That would have been fine!” Which, yes, it was only fifty cents but the sentiment, trust and humanity (not following the corporate procedure) were really nice.

Good things in the world:

Sometimes it isn’t kindness or even singing that brings us together but common experiences and whimsy. Groups like “Improv Everywhere” are known for this with all sorts of art interventions. This one they’ve done 19 times! Their mp3 experiment has tons of strangers in one common place listening to an mp3 that tells them to do certain things starting with something that identifies them to each other. It’s pretty fun to watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHzGANh_cPE

Something I’ve learned in both improv classes and psychology classes is the power of mirroring as relates to connection. If we start doing similar things to someone else, sitting the same, for example, we feel more connected to each other. Sometimes it happens the other way too – if we feel connected we unconsciously mirror them.

Just last week in Antalya, Türkiye, a group called Youth Eurasia gathered for “Youth Gate to Prevent Hate” and staged a kindness intervention. They went out en masse and gave out flowers to strangers with messages attached like the ones in this post. In both Turkish and English they said things like “You’re doing your best, take a moment to appreciate yourself”, or “You look great today”. You can see how that went here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4tmtpraC3I

Improv in Toronto was a group inspired by “Improv Everywhere” and even tried some of the same things. One of my favourite interventions of theirs, though, was the “Umbrella Taxi Service. Participants waited until a really rainy day in August of 2012 and then showed up at Bathurst Station with identical “Umbrella Taxi Service” t-shirts and umbrellas. Then, they just started helping strangers without umbrellas get to and from the station. Simple and beautiful.

https://youtu.be/skuw4R4wlDU?si=_fhesjosz1gNs8L8

While it feels like these sorts of things happened more in the past, I’m glad to see some people are still carrying on with it. Maybe it’s the current aversion to “being cringe” which to me seems like an aversion to being earnest and genuinely enthusiastic about something” but with any luck whatever the reason, we’ll see more things like this in the future.

Take care and don’t forget to check out “Advent of Joy” and find an act of kindness or self care to do every day this month. Today the thing that came up for me was “Practice good posture while sitting or standing.” which was hugely apropos when I read it just now. Currently I’m sitting with my bottom near the front edge of the chair, having slid down low in my desk chair. I’m using a big Rubbermaid bin under my desk as a footrest. OK, now I’m sitting up. Sorry for that!

#3Good #3GoodThings #compassion #GoodNews #gratitude #Kindness #KindnessMatters #life #positivity #snow #winter

3GoodThings and Stories of Compassion for Kids

Some days are really nicely balanced. I woke at around 6, made coffee and read for about thirty minutes before having breakfast and reading some more until Hindi class from 8-10:30 AM. After a bit of lunch I headed out with Sage to do some errands and get a haircut. By the time I got home there was enough time for a few more games and chores before Sage headed out to perform and I hopped on my bike to work on increasing my power for next year’s long ride challenges. Then a quick dinner of leftover chili and here I am with just enough time to write before relaxing and heading off to bed. A nice balance of getting things done and relaxing. Do weekends get better than this?

Here are my good things for today:

1. I finished Jenny Tough’s “Solo”. Definitely recommended. While it was a book about trail running it has me intrigued about bikepacking. The idea of traveling to quiet and relatively remote areas with a little gear and food seems like it could be interesting.
2. Today when we were out there were two musicians playing a bluegrass version of “Sixteen Tons” at Bloor Station. I’m a huge fan of buskers and love that we live near a subway station so I get to hear them so much more often.
3. A few weeks ago for whatever reason(*) I was having lots of trouble sleeping and while I’d get to sleep easily I’d wake up at 2-3AM. Usually I’d be awake for an hour but once or twice I’d be awake for the rest of the day. This has completely stopped and I’ve been sleeping wonderfully.

* I was drinking 4-5 big mugs of coffee each day. Now I’m drinking two. One morning last week I woke up in the morning with a headache and realized I didn’t have my usual afternoon coffee and so I had only one.

Good things in the world:

Kudos to this woman who noticed a kid in trouble and did something small to help them out.

When Cathy Cummings died, her family communicated her last wish via social media: To pay off student lunch debt. A GoFundMe was set up and in the end, over $85,000 in debt was erased. This is especially important as some schools will withhold diplomas from students until their lunch debt is paid. The story is here.

There are so many other stories out there like that – including this one: A Missouri fifth grader raised enough money to pay off his entire school’s meal debt. That’s over $7,300! What I love about this is so often we tell kids to wait until they get older to take on big projects but they just dove right in. What a lesson to learn at that age – how to mobilize people to help others.

I was really happy to learn this year that the school I went to as a kid got rid of free and reduced price lunches for kids which can make them feel ashamed for not having the money for full price. Instead now all students get free breakfast and lunch. This doesn’t just help kids not feel hungry – it improves academic performance verifiably..

Take care and don’t forget to check out “Advent of Joy” and find an act of kindness or self care to do every day this month. Today my challenge was to look up at the sky and appreciate its beauty. This morning was really cloudy and dramatic but right now as I write this it is dark and I see the city lights reflecting back from the clouds. The highrises over on Yonge Street looking beautiful with people’s lights in various windows.

#3Good #3GoodThings #compassion #GoodNews #gratitude #Kindness #KindnessMatters #life #positivity #snow #winter

3GoodThings – The Spontaneous Positive Connection of Crowds

Winter is definitely here. Today outside my window it was snowing off and on in a very picturesque way. It’s the time of year our little residential neighbourhood looks like a Hallmark movie set. Except in our Hallmark movie you can go grab delicious takeout from a Sichuan restaurant, do coin operated karaoke next door and then wander up to the Iranian bakery for some delicious bread.

Here are my good things for today:

1. Naps are always good, but when it’s cold and snowy outside, pulling the shades and reading yourself to sleep for an hour is like a mini vacation.
2. Another small rearrangement of our living room made the flow work even better. Instead of a TV, we have a monitor, old laptop and speakers on a rolling cart not unlike the media carts we had in school. When we want to watch something we roll it over to the couch. When we’re done, we roll it back out of the way. I just recently turned my bike around so that I only need to move the media cart a few feet from its home, plug in my laptop and I can ride on Zwift. We might not have space for a permanent indoor cycling setup but this works amazingly well.
3. After Sage had three busy evenings going out for improv-related activities (one performance by her improv students, one by her team and then a meetup with the team), we got to hang out together last night. Somehow we never finished the second season of Traitors New Zealand and it’s being awesome. Finishing the last episode tonight.

Good things in the world:

Sometimes just being together and sharing in a moment is the most beautiful thing. This appears to have happened spontaneously in the park

https://www.reddit.com/r/HumansBeingBros/comments/1h91p62/park_joins_bro_singing_livin_on_a_prayer/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

“Sweet Caroline” is a bit of a special song in Boston so when a busker sang it in on a subway platform, this happened:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTXD4kpbATI

I knew that the song was popular there but I only just found out how it became popular. Apparently it’s a tradition to sing along to it at Fenway Park at every game – like this. And here’s why that happens: “It was purely by accident that we picked up on this catchy little number and called it our own. Apparently the person in charge of the music at the ballpark decided to play it for personal reasons.  A friend had just had a baby girl named Caroline, and this employee played it in her honor. It’s just one of those freak of nature things. It played and never stopped playing.” – Source.

Meanwhile, in Perth, Australia, a group called The Liberators who stage spontaneous public events created a singalong of their own. A man thanked everyone for waking up and coming out to work when it was cold and early, then handed out lyrics to “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. There is something about singing together that results in instant group connection.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xctzp0dp9uc

You can read more about that here.

I don’t know about you but there is really something special about being at an event like that where people feel connected by being participants in creating something together. It’s been a while since I’ve felt that way but I used to go to blackout anniversary parties here in Toronto which celebrate how when the power went out in 2003 people across the city connected with one another. The last one I went to was in 2012 and a hundreds of us met at a square at one side of the town, completely filled a subway along with a Balkan-Klezmer band and rode down to the train station where the band performed while someone crowd surfed in a kayak before heading out on the street with musicians and fire performers. Watching this video I realize I really want to go again in 2025.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W09jLkFR1RQ

Have you participated in anything like that? People connecting through an event – spontaneous or otherwise? It’s such a great way to feel connected to strangers – and we can all use more of that!

Take care and don’t forget to check out “Advent of Joy” and find an act of kindness or self care to do every day this month. Today the challenge was to do declutter your inbox by deleting old messages. That was super satisfying. I can hang on to far too many really useless emails intending to do something with them and never do, often just archiving them for later. It was a good reminder to be a little less attached to emails that are neither personal or interesting.

#3Good #3GoodThings #compassion #GoodNews #gratitude #Kindness #KindnessMatters #life #positivity #snow #winter

3GoodThings – Why I Do This, and stories from the Anti-Algorithm

Happy Friday! It was a good work from home day today with occasional snow flurries to make the view outside my window extra pretty.

But also today I received a communication that made me think that with new readers coming on board I’m probably due to explain the origin and purpose of this project – what it is, and what it most definitely is not.

It is most assuredly not a rebuttal to anyone who says that there are terrible things happening in the world. There is no denying that on so many fronts there is a tremendous amount of bad news coming on a daily basis.

This project started just after the latest US election when I and many of the people I know got a huge dose of disappointment and despair all in one shot. This already on top of the daily news of war, genocide and climate change. The situation is clearly not good. In the face of that it’s easy to lose hope. Losing hope is exactly what those trying to make the world a worse place are hoping for. If there’s no hope for a better future, no hope for change then what’s the point of trying to work toward positive change or making it better. It won’t make a difference. Hopelessness is also exhausting. If you spend your days constantly sad and disappointed, your stress levels go up and you have less to use for causes other than survival.

So here’s what this project is for me – and let’s be honest, it’s as much for me – and maybe more – as it is for others:

First off, it’s three good things from my own daily life. Gratitude practice is useful. Lots may not be OK right now in the world and even in some aspects of our daily life. This practice helps me take stock of what’s going right. These are the little things that give me strength day to day.

The origin of the three stories from the world goes way back to the 500 Kindnesses project that my son and I did in 2012. We structured it like a charity bike ride but instead of asking for money for a charity we just asked people to do random acts of kindness and say what they were doing anonymously. In my head it was to promote kindness. What I learned in the end was that it didn’t promote it so much as it uncovered it. People can be very private about the things they do for others in order to not appear to brag or show off. The result, though, is we often don’t hear about it. But through the anonymous form I was getting several notifications a day – well over 1,000 in a year of signs that people were doing good things big and small all over the world. At the same time my friends noticed my interest in kindness so any time they saw a good story about kindness, they would forward it to me. It was like an anti-algorithm. While social media gave me tons of stories to make me lose hope and breed cynicism, and possibly resign myself to the status quo, the anti-algorithm did the opposite. Knowing that there were so many good people out there doing good things all the time gave me hope that things could be better. Not only that, knowing they were doing it made me think I could and should do more myself as well.

So I’m hoping here to be a small version of the anti-algorithm for you, dear readers. I know how our social media feeds, television news and newspapers look. They’ve got the bad news well and truly covered. I don’t need to add to that. But what’s not being covered is that there are things to be hopeful for and to be inspired by. And what I hope is that as you read this you feel a tiny bit of reassurance that you’re not alone in wanting to make things better. People are already working on it in from schools to libraries, to hospitals, care homes and even laboratories. So many people are envisioning a better world and trying to do even just a little thing to make it better. Even little things can make a huge difference when added together. Snowflakes might be microscopic but look what happens when a bunch of them get together.

Sometimes even a small thing creates huge positive change. Did you know that 20 years ago a dog stopped a mass shooting in Toronto before it started? On a beautiful summer day in 2004, a man came to the Beaches neighbourhood with five guns and over 6,000 rounds of ammunition planning to shoot so many people in the neighbourhood and then travel around the city shooting people until he got arrested and put in jail for life. But then before he started he ran into a friendly dog. After cuddling with the dog he thought that “if there was such a nice dog in the area the people were too nice and he wasn’t going to carry out his plan.”

No really, it’s a true story! You can read it here.

So that’s what this is about for me. Recognizing what’s currently good in my own life and remembering the good things people are doing both big and small around the world. I hope you also enjoy it and find some encouragement to keep hope alive so that we can all water those seeds of hope with action because hope and action are the only things that have ever changed the world for the better.

Here are my good things for today:

1. An extra hour of sleep put me in a great state of mind for work today.
2. Last night was delightful. The first half of the evening was alone – I had dinner, wrote, and read a bit. Then Daegan and I spent time together chatting and watching TV.
3. Tonight’s Zwift ride was short and simple but I can already begin to feel the physical and of course mental benefits of increasing my exercise.

Good things in the world:

I love this story and the subtext which is – people are watching, noticing and jumping in when they can help.

It reminds me of a story of something that happened when I went with my parents to a bookstore when I was about 11 to order books about science. I won’t spoil the story but it’s been over 40 years and it still sticks with me and likely influenced some of my own behaviours. You can read the whole story here.

I don’t know about other parents but I can definitely relate. Some days with really little kids, especially can be so hard. I love that someone else noticed this and actually took action. The original poster really sums it up: “. Just wanted to encourage anyone that if they get the feeling to do a small act of kindness for someone, please don’t feel awkward or embarrassed. Someone could really need it.”

Here the effort was really small but the impact was huge enough to be remembered years later. A good reminder to take opportunities to help when we can.

Take care and don’t forget to check out “Advent of Joy” and find an act of kindness or self care to do every day this month. Today the challenge was to do a short workout to boost my energy levels. You don’t have to ask me twice!

#3Good #3GoodThings #compassion #GoodNews #gratitude #Kindness #KindnessMatters #life #positivity #snow #winter

本日は盛りだくさんな1日だったので3つじゃ済まないのだけど、地味なやつからw
#3good
・バラのカイガラムシ大体落としてやった！
・水やりタイマーの設定変更忘れなかった
・300万年ぶりぐらいに慣れ親しんだ街に出たけど、高校生の頃によく友だちと行ってたピザ屋が同じ場所にまだあった！ :blobcatmeltthumb:
#fedibird
続きは多分明日

毛根タイムですが #3good
・うまいタイミングで宅配便受け取れた
・おすそ分け頂いた秋刀魚がとびきり美味しかった（我が家的初物〜🐟 ）
・直射日光強すぎて葉焼け起こしてたアナベルに、他の大きな葉を持つ鉢を並べて、多少の日陰を作ってやった

日照条件悪すぎも問題だけど、日陰がなさ過ぎて苦心してる。とはいえ試される日々は、それはそれで楽しいw
#fedibird

まだ牧歌的だったTwitter時代にやってたことある。 #3good

@3goodthings
1.I cleaned my house, got a shower gave my partner two massages lasting 1.5 hours each, played with kitties, and did laundry, did 6 litter boxes, picked up medicine, and walked the dog twice already and fed the dog twice, I’m pet sitting.
He’s not near the cats. In the past. 24 hours.
2. I found some new music I like from new singer/songwriter
3. I got two books

#3GoodThings #ThreeGoodThings #DailyGratitude #GratitudeJournal #ReasonsToBeCheerful #3Good #3Goods #Gratitude #Grateful

@3goodthings@a.gup.pe
@threegoodthings
@3goodthings@fedigroups.social

❄️ The AC unit is here! Ready to be installed.

💸 Paid a lot of bills, and managed our overall money. It's looking good so far.

🎮 Achieved a lot of progress in Torn City.

#3GoodThings #ThreeGoodThings #DailyGratitude #GratitudeJournal #ReasonsToBeCheerful #3Good #3Goods #Gratitude #Grateful