ONE EASY WAY TO INSTANTLY FEEL BETTER ABOUT ANYTHING

One recent early morning, I had just put a load of wet clothes in the dryer when I heard some fumbling around and can-clinking from the trash and recycling area down the driveway from the laundry room. 

I stepped outside with a racing heart, holding my flimsy laundry bin in front of me like a shield, thinking I’d have to fight off the random huge raccoon I’d spotted in the same spot on another early morning. 

Instead, I saw that it was the older man I see sometimes: he rides his bike around the neighborhood collecting bottles and cans from the bins outside homes and buildings on garbage-collection day.

Shit, I thought. I don’t have anything to give him. 

Then I looked down at the bulging bag of quarters in my hand that I’d gotten from Chase the day before. Duh.

But still, I hemmed and hawed for a minute - I didn’t want to humiliate him or make him uncomfortable, or, if we’re being honest, make myself uncomfortable, because I wasn’t quite sure how to approach offering him my laundry loot. So - I just did it.

“I’m sorry,” he said when I walked over to him, holding his hands up like I was a Karen about to launch a verbal assault. “I don’t make money if I don’t work!”

“You work so hard!” I exclaimed. “And I just wanted to give you this.”

His smile when I deposited the $20 or so in quarters into his hand could have lit up all of Flores Street. 

Never mind that the thought of this man having to make a living rooting through the grimy things people like me carelessly toss away squeezed my heart so hard I thought it might stop.

But also, and maybe more selfishly, bringing a little extra lightness to someone else’s day - helping them out in some small way - made my own day that much lighter. I’d been anxious and stewing about two different issues, but in that moment, the cloud lifted. 

So, the way to feel better about anything in an instant? Find a way to be generous. And it doesn’t have to be monetary: being generous can come in a million different forms. 

The idea is being generous of spirit:

• Being generous takes the focus off you and your problems, perceived or otherwise. That’s the first step in solving them.

•  It never hurts and always helps (and feels good) to be kind and make the world a better place in some small way.

•  There is no such thing as being too generous. Making someone’s day is priceless, so leave that massive tip or buy something nice for your sister.

And maybe most importantly, we always have a little more to give, even when we think we don’t.