Happy habits: The daily gratitude & kindness challenge

[Guybrush]

Dear friends,

Like @jimmy jazz' workout thread, I wanted a thread for some of the non-physical healthy exercises we should be doing. Here, I want to focus on two things; daily acts of kindness and thoughts of gratitude.

My challenge to you is this: Every day, perform an act of kindness and reflect on three things you are thankful for.

While it may sound wishy washy, these simple things are empirically proven to increase your own happiness, as discussed here.

I am going to give it my best and will use this as my journal. I encourage you to do the same 🙂

[Guybrush]

Act of kindness : I haven't done an act of kindness just yet today, so will mention yesterday's. Yesterday, I invited our friend who recently broke up with her husband to move into our place if she wants (I think she's lonely and that this would comfort her). She said she might do that and seemed grateful 🙂 and then she invited me to a trip to New York in December, so that was nice.

Three other things I am thankful for:

Friday's lunch: Once in may, I went to a social gathering after work. I briefly spoke with someone I didn't know, but she works in the same building and is absolutely gorgeous and with such a friendly, mild personality as well. On Friday, I was eating a late lunch with some of my more peripheral acquaintances and she came to join us 🙂 we had a super nice chat and I ended up spending more time lunching than I should. So am grateful for getting to know this wonderful person a bit more.

Crossfit: The crossfit gym is giving me free exercise next week and seem very happy about me deciding to join for reals. Nice people! I like them 🙂 hoping to get to know them better.

Rings of Power: The new season is out. My wife had been in Oslo since Tuesday, but is coming home today. Looking forward to pumping some iron, then starting this series with her afterwards 🙂

I also made a killer cup of coffee for breakfast today with my bialetti brewer 👌

[Lisnaholic]

Nice idea, Guybrush, to focus on our better selves and the good things we take for granted.

Kindness: Like Shhon, I haven't had much irl social interaction today, but I did give a small tip to a couple of guys at the supermarket: one for bagging my groceries, the other one just begging.

Gratitude: Actually, on a regular basis, I think how lucky I am. Perhaps for today specifically:-

1. I have a cellphone and some good friends, so I was entertained by them for a while today.
2. My car is prone to probs, but it did its job today: no breakdown like I had during the week.
3. Not a killer coffee, but a regular one that I enjoyed at the start of my day, sitting in the garden that this house has, and reading an enjoyable book.
 

[Lexi Darling]

Lovely thread idea!

Kindness: Yesterday we went over to my mom's house to hang out with my sister for a bit before we went shopping and I made breakfast for the four of us; sausage, eggs and English muffins with jam.

Gratitude: 1. I'm grateful for having the close family I have. 2. I'm hopefully going to be going on a cruise with a longtime friend of mine in January 2026, it's not set in stone yet due to potential financial snags but we're trying to find any way we can to make it work. 3. I'm grateful for the supportive online communities I have, SCD included of course.

[Guybrush]

Oh you guys 🥰 I'm so thankful for you partaking in this happiness journey with me!

Today's Act of Kindness
I started helping out my union reps with some excel problems and will finish that tomorrow. Is that kindness? I also bought tickets for myself and a friend to see Alien: Romulus at the cinema tomorrow 🙂 And I tried to buy a colleague lunch when she had trouble paying at the cash register..  but she promptly wired me back!

Gratitude
1. I am thankful for the swim I had with my wife yesterday. She's been out of town for days, but came home yesterday. We left the kids to their cartoons, then put on our swimwear and bathrobe and drove to the little lake where I've done most of my bathing lately. We got in. It was cold, but also very nice 🙂

2. I'm thankful for my colleague Nina who dropped by my office for a chat. We ended up having lunch together which was very nice. I was the one who hired her and did all the onboarding and I do think she misses me as head of the wastewater department, but I'm ofc very happy about no longer being someone's boss 🙂

3. I am thankful for my wonderful sister. She's a sociology professor and we went to a panel discussion held at an old theatre where she was one of four participants. The topic was male equality issues. I was sceptical, but it was actually very interesting, generally allied with women's rights and the discussion made me reflect on some things I haven't thought of much before.

[Guybrush]

Today's Act of Kindness
Just a small thing. I made my wife a cup of honey sweetened tea with some biscuits and coffee after dinner, then diverted our youngest's attention so she could have a bit of peace and quiet 🙂

Today's gratitude
1) I'm grateful for getting to see Alien Romulus, both the movie, my pal John whom I went with and the movie for being a decent watch 🙂

2) Getting some help from ChatGPT, I learned a way to do something in Excel that I already did years ago, but this way is so much simpler. I like Excel, so this was fun for me.

3) I am thankful for the book I'm reading and the time I get to read taking the bus to and from work. Today, I couldn't put it down and had to keep on reading after I got home.

[Guybrush]

Yo!

Acts of kindness
Maybe two minor ones today. I spent some special time with my boy because I thought he'd enjoy it and I put both our kids to bed so my wife could take some time off.

Today's gratitudes
1) My colleague Elise was really appreciative of the work I've done on a project and loudly praised it in a meeting and said she was so happy I was working with them. I feel like I'm undeserving, so actually got a little bothered and didn't say thanks 😅 but I really appreciate it and will see if I can do something nice for her tomorrow. She's pregnant and probably has the munchies.. and she likes smoothies, so I have an idea 😊

2) I love my boy who is such a brave and funny little guy 🙂 he's really found some weird strength of character lately, taking hardship on the chin like a champ and seemingly always in a good mood.

3) I am thankful to my wife being so supportive of my exercise regime which has me leaving the house at least a couple of times a week. Plus I was at the cinema yesterday.

[Guybrush]

Today's Act of Kindness
Haven't felt particularly kind today, but I did do hours of onboarding with a trainee and then spent a good half hour teaching a colleague some excel functions.. that's a little kind? Ill try harder tomorrow 😅

Today's gratitudes
1) I am happy for the weather turning suddenly amazing. It was so warm, immediately after work we picked up the kids, some pizza and went to this cove.

2) I am grateful to echinoderms and particularly sea stars whose larvae were everywhere in that cove today. I can't remember seeing them before and here there may have been literally millions. Huge amounts of comb jellies too so bathing was like dipping in jello.

3) Am grateful to my wife who put the kids to bed today while I got to relax. I was unusually tired.

[Guybrush]

Today's Kindness
I went to pick up my wife after her work with the car today, so maybe that was nice? 🤔

Today's gratitudes
My gratitudes are mostly other people 😄

1) A day or two ago, I invited the wastewater department to take a look at an application I'm writing for a permit for one of our wastewater facilities. There's a bit of technical information that I needed another pair of eyes on. By chance, I mer a colleague today and he was carrying a printout of my application with a few notes in it. Perfect! He filled in most of the remaining gaps and I am very thankful for having such a great colleague.

2) I got to talk a lot about Japanese knotweed today, an invasive plant that thrives around some of our facilities.

3) We went swimming and it was great. Some warm currents have apparently come up from a warmer climate, cause it must be close to 20 degrees C.

[Guybrush]

I forgot yesterday's, or at least to write them down, so here they are

Yesterday's kindness
I supported my wife going to this wine festival and gave my kid money to go buy weekend candy. She's at that age where she's so proud of being able to do stuff like that on her own. I also checked in on a buddy who's sick.

Yesterday's gratitudes
1) I want to challenge talking to strangers more, so when we got to the beach yesterday, I stopped for a brief chit chat with one of the families there. It was pleasant! The dad came to us a little while after with a bucket of live crabs that their kids were no longer paying attention to.

2) The surprisingly warm waters and beautiful reefs of southern Norway 🙂 I was rolicking in the water.

3) The intimate time I had with my wife before bedtime 😄

[Guybrush]

Yo!

Today's Kindness
I shared a chat with a stranger today, someone who probably doesn't get approached much that way, but who greatly seemed to appreciate it 🙂

Today's gratitudes
1) I spent so much of today in the water, so I feel like I'm still thankful for the nice weather and temperature we've had 😊

2) I'm thankful for our son who is a huge goofball and so good at just enjoying himself by himself.

3) I'm hugely thankful to my close family and these gatherings we do a few times a year 🙂 this year we'll be celebrating Christmas together which will be great!

[innerspaceboy]

Act of kindness:

I, too, was kind to myself today. I stepped outside for a bit to get some fresh air and reached out to a community online for tips on how to endure the quarantine.

Daily Gratefulness:

1) Ever the avid archivist, I successfully retrieved my documentation from when I last applied for food stamps 4 months ago and completed the re-application process with all required supporting documents in under 20 minutes.

2) My generous neighbors offered to mind my kitten when the exterminators arrive tomorrow to keep him safe from the chemicals. They also offered to drive me to the local food pantries to stock up on staples while I have no income.

3) Despite his finicky behavior, I'm so grateful to have my kitten to share my home. It helps to curb the loneliness. And he listens without judgment.

[Guybrush]

Today's Kindness
At work today, I first checked in on a colleague who has been depressed. We hugged and had a really nice chat. Later on, I talked to another colleague and learned that the 14 year old daughter of another colleague has been really getting into drugs and she dare not leave her for fear that something will happen. It seems this will prevent her from going on the social trip from Wednesday to Friday. She was struggling not to cry when she told me about it.. it must be so hard. I told her Im here if she ever needs someone to talk to.

Today's gratitudes
1) Today I'm especially thankful for being able to connect with my colleagues.

2) I'm thankful for my daughter being such a goof when we played cards with my parents today. She lost two games in a row and then I lost on purpose and her level of schadenfreude is unparalelled.

3) My parents visited us and brought a warm dinner 🙂 Perfect! They're so thoughtful and nice.

[Guybrush]

Today's Kindness
I haven't really done anything particularly kind today. The closest is probably organizing a reply from me and my band mates to the guy who's trying to book us for a concert on December 26th.

Today's gratitudes
1) I am thankful for AI technology. I made some pop songs about my kids and we had fun today listening to them repeatedly 🙂

2) I am thankful for getting to enjoy Rings of Power S2. The series gets some flak, but I definitely feel like S2 is a step up and the production value is amazing.

3) I am thankful for my improved Stamina 🙂 Getting to the kindergarten with my kid today, I realized Id forgotten my laptop at home. I managed to run back home, get my laptop and then get on the earliest available bus.. which required me doing all this in 10 minutes, which I did. Only downside was.. I was so sweaty afterwards 😅 oh well.

[Guybrush]

Today's Kindness
A few kind things today, but most appreciated was I gave some money to a very thankful beggar.

Today's gratitudes
1) I am on a work trip and sleeping at a hotel and the room is very nice!

2) I had a nice workout at the hotel with a couple of colleagues, which was very nice.

3) Im in bed alone and with a book which is so nice 😊

4) Work paid for dinner and drinks! And I had a great time getting to know a new colleague better 🙂