Feel Good Friday

“Maybe we’re overthinking it. In these grim times, the most efficient path to living a contented life may be to put ourselves through the same simple exercise of thinking about our purpose and then taking a step — even a modest one — toward fulfilling it.” WaPo (Gift Article): A 6-year research project found a surprisingly simple route to happiness.

+ “Ms. Chopin makes no claims to be a wellness guru, nor does she seem to feel a burning desire to evangelize about her own approach to life. But people keep asking for her secrets to aging well.” A 102-Year-Old Yoga Teacher’s Simple Approach to Aging Well. (For personal reasons, I’m a little worried that having tight hammies is not on her list of recommendations…)

+ mRNA COVID vaccines may be helping some cancer patients fight tumors, researchers say.

+ Reversing peanut advice prevented tens of thousands of allergy cases.

+ “The officers, the A.P. caption said, were there to block the entrance to the museum. But the man, dressed in a buttoned up vest, a trench coat and a fedora, who seemed to be surveilling the scene, was more than enough reason for the internet to pounce.” Is This Dapper Man Going to Crack the Louvre Heist Case? (Or, a photo so good, people were sure it was AI.)

+ The secret California factory that powers theme parks’ biggest special effects.

+ When books were being pulled from Iowa classrooms, these teens started an after-school club to read them.

+ Watch a baby elephant play ball with a small pumpkin as her family smashes massive ones.