It’s the Little Things: A List of 25 Awesome Things

Simple joys generate a lot of love

Lots of little things can generate big feelings of love and gratitude in our hearts like a smile from a polite cashier or a hug from grandma. Even so, there are many other things that happen in our daily lives that we really love, and if we remained conscious of them more often we could share that love with others.

Author, Neil Parischa, originally logged these little joys of life on a website he created titled, 1,000 Awesome Things. His original intent was to draw people’s attention, including his own, away from the darker news of world politics and toward the more positive and simpler joys of life we experience every day. As he continued to post more entries, his audience quickly grew as the universal nature of these experiences caused more people to respond, “I love it when that happens. It’s awesome!”

The success of his website led Parischa to write his bestselling book, The Book of Awesome, that details many of the everyday things we secretly love but often overlook. So check out a short list of Parischa’s many awesome things and see if your heart doesn’t leap with a little joy when those things happen to you, too. We if can remain conscious of these things we love, we can maintain a loving attitude more often and share that love with others.

25 Awesome Things

1. Finding money in your old coat pocket. Awesome!
2. Seeing a police cruiser at the side of the road looking for speeders and realizing you’re already going the speed limit. Awesome!
3. Wearing underwear just out of the dryer. Awesome!
4. Hearing the ice cubes crack in your cold drink. Awesome!
5. Popping bubble wrap. Awesome!
6. A cashier opening up a new checkout lane at the grocery store. Awesome!
7. Hitting a bunch of green lights in a row. Awesome!
8. Bakery air that smells like fresh baked bread, glazed doughnuts, and pastry cream. Awesome!
9. Being the first table called up to the buffet at a wedding. Awesome!
10. Sleeping in new bed sheets. Awesome!
11. High-fiving babies. Awesome!
12. That moment at a concert where the lights go out but before the band comes on stage. Awesome!
13. Fixing electronics by smacking them. Awesome!
14. Finding an old mix tape. Awesome!
15. The smell of rain on a hot sidewalk. Awesome!
16. Finding extra fries at the bottom of your carryout bag. Awesome!
17. The moment at a restaurant when you see your food coming from the kitchen before it arrives at your table. Awesome!
18. Thinking it’s Thursday when it’s Friday. Awesome!
19. Finding the last item in your size on the rack. Awesome!
20. Correctly guessing if the door is push or pull. Awesome!
21. When a police officer finally passes you after driving behind you for a while. Awesome!
22. Peeling the glue off the back of your new credit card. Awesome!
23. Coming back to your own bed after a long trip. Awesome!
24. When batteries are included. Awesome!
25. Clicking pens with really strong springs. Awesome!

Can you think of other things to put on your own list?