I think we all have moments when we decide that the world itself is against us and nothing seems to be going right. And maybe for some of us, this feeling comes a little more often and lingers a little bit longer. So I'll tell you my trick to making that feeling subside (even for just a while): I think of the times that have once made me genuinely happy. The times that made me thankful just to be living on this planet, at this time, with these people, in this moment. For the sake of brevity, I'll list 25 of these times. And hopefully the joy they radiate to me will be contagious enough to reach you:

1. When you walk outside and smell the autumn air for the first time of the season.

2. When someone starts to tell a joke but is laughing too hard to finish it.

3. When you make a weird facial expression at someone and they return it with an equally weird facial expression.

4. When people actually apologize and take ownership for something they've done wrong.

5. When someone shows exactly how they feel instead of pretending they don't care about anything.

6. When you smile at another girl and she smiles back to prove that not all girls are the spawn of satan.

7. When someone will sit and listen to your favorite songs with you, even if they're embarrassingly old or cheesy.

8. When a boy gets tense and his jaw does the clenching thing.

9. When you can have a legitimately interesting conversation with someone about something that's important to you.

10. When someone has the courage to be themselves no matter how absurd or uncommon it is. When they genuinely love the person they are and strive to be nothing and no one else.

11. When someone notices that you're sad and goes out of their way to ask what's wrong and make you smile.

12. When people who shouldn't dance start dancing and it makes everyone join in.

13. When you're singing a song and someone comes in with the background vocals.

14. When someone you look up to compliments you.

15. When you accomplish something everyone said you couldn't.

16. When you're smiling and someone sees you and smiles back, not because they know why you're smiling, but because you're happy... and that's enough to make them happy.

17. When someone notices you've had a haircut, shaved, done your makeup differently, bought a new shirt, etc. and compliments you on it.

18. When people tell you they saw/heard something that reminded them of you.

19. When someone can make you feel okay just by being in their presence.

20. When you and someone you haven't seen in a while finally reunite and you do the slow motion run-to-hug-you thing.

21. When you get a text from someone you were just thinking about.

22. When someone tells you how good you are at something you love to do.

23. When someone remembers a small detail about you or something you told them about.

24. When you drop something and someone helps you pick it up.

25. When you realize you're surrounded by little things like these every single day, and life just seems a little bit easier to deal with.