We haven’t had any appreciable rain where I live in quite a few months, and it’s been very hot as well. Last night, things finally changed—we got a downpour along with a noticeable drop in the temperature. This morning when I went on my walk, the first thing I noticed is that everyone I met on the sidewalk was smiling—they were so happy for having gotten a cooling rain. The other thing I noticed was that everyone wanted to stop and visit rather than just saying “hi” or “good morning” and then walking on. The out of the ordinary rain that had happened the night before had really perked these people up. My wife, Marcia, observed a similar occurrence when she was at Trader Joe’s recently. The store’s sound system was playing a song from the 1950’s with a very catchy beat. Spontaneously, two of the store’s checkers started dancing to the song. According to Marcia, seeing this made her day and everyone else who saw it started smiling. Several customers even chose to dance along. The lesson here is that if you’re having one of those days where you could use a little perking up, “ordinary” will not make that happen. So, try to find a place where “out of the ordinary” is likely to happen.

One Sentence Wisdom

• “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” — Robert Frost
• “As long as habit and routine dictate the pattern of living, new dimensions of the soul will not emerge.” — Henry Van Dyke

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