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Hello, and we are here for more Happier, a podcast where we get more happier. It's the weekend. It's time for some weekend listening and a lose survive. Hey, Elizabeth. Hey, Grudge. Today, we'll talk about my list of 24 things that please me and why I think it's such a great exercise to do. I highly recommend it. But first, something making us more happier. Elizabeth, what is making you more happier?
Well, Gretchen, my Topsy's popcorn is making me more happy. Oh, yeah. So, Topsy's is a place in Kansas City, most known for its popcorn, also Slushy's fudge. It's legendary. I made other things. We used to go there as a treat when we were little, and they have tens of popcorn for the holidays.
And mom and dad sent one to us since we weren't in Kansas City this year with caramel cinnamon and cheese popcorn. That's the classical. Yes, the classic. And so we're still eating it. And whenever I look at it, it just makes me so happy because it's the pretty tin and it makes me think of home and it makes me feel holiday-ish even now.
So I'm just loving my topsies. For life in five senses, I put some cinnamon popcorn in a plastic bag. And I don't know if it'll just disintegrate over time, but I'm like, I want to hold onto that smell so much because there is that very particular cinnamon popcorn smell. And then the tins, I mean, we use the tins for Christmas ornaments. And so it's such a good memento over the years in addition for being this very evanescent thing that you eat up.
And there's always new tins every year with different designs. You can pick your design. Yeah. Mom and dad sent one to Eleanor to share with her like entryway. And it was a big hit. Yes. I sent it last year to my LA nieces for Halloween for their dorm room. Yes. So that was fun. Oh, that's so fun. So it always makes me happier to have topsy scratch. Yes. So happy memory.
What is making you more happier? Well, listen, I meant to repeat something that you said, because you said how the new year, you gave a gold start of the new year. And I wanted to say that the new year is making me feel happier too. It just, it feels like that clean slate. It's this field of untraudent snow that feels full of possibility.
And the fact is I recognize that this is totally irrational, that time is not different on January 2nd versus December 30th. And it's just this framework that we impose on time that is largely in our imaginations. And yet I still feel that it is powerful and it is a way to frame time in a way that I just feel like I'm taking a deep breath.
Now, the 25 for 25s will start. And the annual challenge, and it just feels like it's full of fresh new things. And 2024 felt stale and worn out. And now I feel good about 2025. Well, I wonder if the fact also that it is the year 2025, like the 25 is pleasing to people. Because I feel like people are really embracing 25. It feels like more than usual.
People are doing things with 25 and making lists. And I mean, I know we are obviously very in on that, but it just feels like 2025 is a thing. Well, it's funny because this is just, again, some numbers feel like they have more power than other numbers. Like 13 has power, 16 is four times four. Like there's different things and 2025, it's a quarter of a century. And that feels like a meaningful marker. So I think people do feel like this year has more weight.
Yeah, I think so. So anyway, it'll be interesting to see how it plays out, actually. Yeah, sure will. I love 2025 and will be so sad when it's over. Yeah, here's hoping. Here is hoping. All right, Grutch, coming up, there's something I've been meaning to ask you, but first, this break.
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Okay, Grudge, there's something I have been meaning to ask you. We talked about the fact that you wrote a list of 24 things that please you for your 24 for 24 list. That was one of your items. And I've been meaning to ask you to tell us what they are. But before we get to the whole list, how did you like doing the exercise?
Okay, so I just randomly came up with this idea, so I wasn't really sure how it would play out. And I have to say that I loved it. I love this exercise because by thinking about the things, writing down the things that please me, it did so many great things. Like, first of all, I felt like I was paying tribute to the world. You see these things that you love and you
desire to like use them up or turn them into something or whatever. And somehow by putting them on this list, I felt like they got their recognition or they were somehow registered in some kind of world imagination, categorization of things that are pleasing. It also acted like a gratitude journal, you know, like way back in the happiness project, I wrote about how I tried keeping a gratitude journal and I was really annoyed by keeping a gratitude journal. This was like a different way of keeping a gratitude journal that worked for me.
And because of the negativity bias, people were just naturally more drawn to negative information. This is why journalists say if it bleeds, it leads. This is why you're more likely to remember criticism than praise. Our attentions are more focused on negative information because that's probably what we need to remember and know, right? Because maybe we're at risk or there's a tiger chasing us or whatever. We sort of need to fight against that by consciously training our minds against the negativity bias. And so I found that this
It both focused my mind on the beauty of the world and pleasing things, but also the hunt. You know how it's fun to be on the lookout for something? Yes. And then when you find something, you're like, oh, I found it. And I think sometimes people get this by going to a used bookstore or by going to a garage sale. And so I felt like I was constantly on the hunt to identify these things, just as they were flickering through my mind.
And I just found it to be absolutely delightful. So I'm going to do this again with 25 in 25 for 25. Yeah, I think one reason it's maybe more pleasing to use the word pleasing than a gratitude journal is the bar seems lower. The bar seems lower and it's like, am I grateful for it? I don't know that I'm grateful for it, but it just pleases me.
Okay, well let's start going through your list. Number one. Okay, this might surprise people, but I am so pleased by the periodic table of the elements. I marvel at the periodic table of the elements. I love how beautiful it is, how elegant it is. They found things just because they knew that they were supposed to be there because the periodic table of the elements suggested that something would exist and so they looked for it and then there was.
And I remember when I was creating my four tendencies framework, I felt like it was the same plugging every space was filled in an elegant way. And I just love it. I love the periodic table of the elements. Okay. Number two, air dancers. These are those inflatable waving tube people. They're more classically outside of used car lot.
Yes. You know, and they just whip around and I just think they look so funny and cheerful and I just love them. They can look eerie and uncanny in the wrong context, but if they're in the right context, they look super cheerful. I love that. Okay, number three. Okay, this is strange, perhaps, but this is something that I even think about sometimes just if I'm trying to fall asleep because I find it so pleasing, which is the image of streetlights
going through their change of colors in the middle of the night when the streets are empty. So the idea that it's changing from red to green and it's just there in the night and there are no cars and there are no people or maybe there's like one person walking their dog very late at night and yet the street lights continue to cycle through their colors. For some reason I find this very, very comforting.
I think it's a world order thing. It's like there's an order in this treat. Yes, yes, yes. It's like mailboxes, which I, I, which I didn't put down, but I find mailboxes really pleasing. Okay. Okay. 2025 list mailboxes mailboxes. Okay. Number four.
active air. So I would call active air when there's air that's got leaves blowing in it or petals or snow or you can see rain. There's one artist in the Met that has like active air where there's like flecks of everything for some reason. I love looking out the window and seeing the air full of something.
Number five, quirky vending machines. I love a quirky vending machine. You know, you're in Las Vegas and they're selling like weirdo things in the vending machine or I don't know, you know, it's automatic or whatever. I love a vending machine. Yes, we have in the mall near me, we have a sprinkles vending machine, the cupcakes. Yes. And I love just looking in at a cupcake vending machine. Yes.
Fascinating. There's just something about that system of the vending machine that's just, and sometimes they have them like in airports, they'll have oddball things in vending machines or sometimes you'll see art vending machines where you like, you get a poem or a novella. I just love when people do something interesting with a vending machine.
Okay, great. It's number six. Glass elevators. I love a glass elevator. Elizabeth, do you remember when we were growing up? There was a glass elevator in our environment, and we loved it, and I loved them ever since. Yes. Number seven, I know you love this one. A color wheel. This kind of is related to the periodic table of the elements. Like, I love any illustration of the color wheel. I just find it so beautiful.
Well, in grads, when we were picking our signature colors, you chose the color wheel. I did, I did. You couldn't narrow it down. Yeah, and just the color wheel itself is so beautiful. Number eight. Any button collection. You put a bunch of buttons in a jar in a box, and I just love it. I just, and you don't have to do anything with them. I just like run my fingers through them. Love a button collection.
Number nine. So, Alyssa, you may be too young to remember this, but when I was little, there was a museum in Kansas City that had a pretend house made out of ice and snow, you know, like a pretend igloo that you could crawl into.
And this, to me, was so powerful, so interesting, so exciting. I loved it. Do you remember it? Are we too little? No, I absolutely remember it. We visited it. Yes. The class would visit it.
But I remember when we would be at the museum with our parents, you me and mom and dad in Europe one summer, and I think I kept finding these art museums lacking next to that particular museum in Kansas City. I was like, wait, that's a museum I like going to, museums I don't like going to. Yeah, that's probably one of my most vivid early memories is that? Yes.
Number 10, rereading. Elizabeth, I know you are not like this. You do not find pleasure in this, but I find such pleasure in revisiting things that I've already watched, listened or heard. And so I just decided to embrace it. And I used to think like, oh, I should be pushing to have new things. But I'm like, but I love revisiting the old thing. So that's okay. 11. Moss. I just love moss. Yes. Now I reach down whenever I see it, I reach down and touch it. I love the way it looks. I love the way it feels. Love moss.
Maybe moss could be your signature color. Yeah, 12. Okay, I love artificial flowers. Have you noticed? I don't know if this is just like a New York City thing or if this is like a trend that's sweeping the nation, but now around doorways, entrances, there will be these huge
garlands of artificial flowers inside a store. There might be masses of artificial flowers as decorations. And I used to think, Oh, artificial flowers, those, those aren't nice. But now I'm like, I love an artificial flower. And I love huge quantities of artificial flowers or any kind of garland or I just decided I'm going to embrace the artificial flower. I want to find a way to bring artificial flower. I do have some paper flowers in my apartment. But now I'm like, yeah, this is like a whole thing that I like.
And I like it when they're not trying to pretend to look like real flowers. Like nobody could have that kind of rose decoration outside their restaurant in real life. It's just pleasing as its own thing as kind of an artificial invocation of flowers. And so do you have this in LA? Do you know what I'm talking about?
I don't think so. I feel like we have more real stuff, like real Bougainville outside a restaurant. Yeah, but see, this is draped all over the place. I'll send you some pictures of it. I'll try to take some pictures and post it. You know, when you go looking for something, you're like, how come nobody has this now that I'm looking for it? But if I can find some, I'll post it in the show notes.
And I'd be curious from listeners, is this something that you're seeing where you are? Actually, I don't remember ever seeing this in Kansas City. So maybe this is kind of a New York City thing, or other people seeing it elsewhere. It's very noticeable. If it's happening, you will notice it, because there's these gigantic quantities of fake flowers. Maybe for Instagram moments. Yeah, maybe. OK, Gretz, coming up, we're going to hear the rest of what's pleasing you. But first, this break.
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Okay, Gretchen, we're back. We are talking about 24 things that please you, which is such a delightful list. Number 13. Okay, so a lunchbox. Okay, there's certain things that are like a vending machine. It's just like that's just a great form of object. And I love a lunchbox. And when I say lunchbox, I have in mind, in particular, the classic
rectangular metal kind with like a little handle. When I was growing up, like I had one and I remembered I had this very particular smell because I actually brought it to school with my lunch in it. I wish so much that I still had my lunch boxes from then. But when Elisa and Eleanor were little, we had a Disney princess kind of mini lunchbox and when we were going through all their toys to give away,
I was like, well, we can't give this away because I love it so much. And Eliza and Eleanor thought that was hilarious. They're like, what are you going to do with the mini pink Disney princess lunchbox? And I'm like, I just love it. I just want it because I just love it as a thing. I don't know what I could do with it. Maybe I'll fill it full of buttons. There you go. Now that I think about it, but I just love a lunchbox. I think it's just a classic form that can't be beat.
Well, I think you had a Partridge family lunchbox. Oh, I'm sure that I did. I'm sure that I did. Number 14. Oh, another thing that I really appreciate. We talked about this with Travel Hacks is the roller bag. A great invention. We, you and I, we rolled our bags all over England. And boy, we are glad we were not hefting them over our shoulders. The roller bag is a great invention. It pleases me every time I use one.
Number 15. This is also one that came from our trip to England, which is flowers and grass going out of a stone wall. I think it was so sweet because by the end, you'd be like, look, grudge, there's flowers growing out of a stone wall just the way you like it. And I'd be like, look, it's so beautiful. There it is again, flowers and grass growing out of a stone wall. I think some of our listeners think it's very sweet, the way something that to them is something that they literally see every single hour of their lives and something that gets me hopping up and down with enthusiasm.
There it is. I love it. I love flowers and grass going out of a stone wall. There is a lot of it in England. Yeah. Okay. Number 16. Anything Trump loy or miniature, and maybe there should be two things, but I feel like these are things that trick the eye or delight the eye with something unexpected. So Trump loy is anything where you look at something and it looks three dimensional when it's really flat or something like that. And then, of course, miniatures. I love anything miniature.
You do. You have miniatures around your apartment. Yes, I do. I love it. Delightful in and of themselves. Yeah. Well, and funnily enough, in Kansas City, there was the Toy and miniature museum, which we didn't even go to that much when we were growing up. And now I go to it all the time. It's kind of funny. Number 17. Okay. This one was inspired by you Elizabeth. And this
This is a good example of when somebody tells you something that pleases them, often you're like, that pleases me too. I didn't even think about it, but you are a huge fan of the department store lunch. And whenever we are on a sisterly adventure and we have the occasion to go to a department store, we always try to time it so that we can have a department store lunch. And I don't know why this is so pleasant, but it sure is. And you were the one who taught me about that.
And mom introduced me to it, Gretz, because we would go to New York, we'd go to Bloomingdale's and go have a department store lunch at Bloomingdale's and I just absolutely loved it and I still do. Yeah, it's fun. Number 18. Well, this is back to the miniature thing. I like a tiny glass jar with a cork stopper.
I bought something to use at a store and they were just like, here are some empty tiny glass jars with cork stoppers. And I could not stop myself from buying them. I'm like, I just simply want them. I have them in a drawer. The day will come when I really need a tiny glass jar with a cork stopper and I'll be ready. But in the meantime, I just like knowing that they're there. A friend of mine gave me a lot of little tiny gold stars because I love gold stars so much in a tiny glass jar with a cork stopper. And it's like one of my favorite things that I own.
Okay, number 19. Oh, this is one of my favorite things to do. So let's say it's the holidays, right? And I'm very sleepy. And so I just lean over and I'm closing my eyes and I'm drifting off to sleep while my family is talking around me. Like they're just talking, they're just making conversation or like they're just doing things and I'm sort of gently drifting off. That is like my most cozy feeling.
Similar to that, I remember again for being little is dosing off in the back seat of a long car drive of a road trip with like mom and dad talking in the front seat. Yes. Yes. And the radio on just drifting off. Exactly. That's exactly the same vibe.
Number 20. Okay, so you know we have this lake house that I'm so excited about. I realize it's something that really pleases me is an uninhabited island in the middle of a lake. And one of the things about the lake that we're our house is next to is it has uninhabited island in the middle, which is very small, but it's still an uninhabited island. It has a burned out house. And it has lily pads. And I'm like, that is so great.
I love the burnout house. I kayak and I like there's the burnout house. I like the uninhabited island. But there's something about an island in the middle of a lake, even like as the title of a painting or a book title, the island in the middle of a lake. And Christopher Alexander says that something roughly in the middle.
makes things more pleasing. That's one of his patterns in a pattern language, so it's something roughly in the middle of a leg. This summer, you should have a picnic on that island. As an upholder, I feel like, is it permissible for me to do that? But then part of me is like, why not? So I'll have to have my questioner or husband be like, why can't we go take a picnic on that uninhabited island? But I think he's going to need to coach me into it. Okay. But yeah, why not? We won't do any harm.
Number 21. I like eating with a little spoon or fork out of a little container. You know when sometimes you just have like a little container or something and you have a little bitty spoon? I don't know why. I just like that. I think it's fun. Number 22. I love a fire in a fireplace. Any fire in a fireplace, if it's at home or like if you go to a restaurant, you know, sometimes restaurants will have a fire in a fireplace. I love that. Yes. If I could suggest anything for the Met, I think of they could have fire.
somewhere, just a very super safe fire, because I'm sure that if you're like, have a bunch of art around you, not necessarily that enthusiastic about fire, but I just feel like fire is just so pleasing. And so I love fire in a fireplace.
Absolutely. 23. Well, speaking of the Met, I love a Renaissance portrait. There's a very particular look for a Renaissance portrait. They usually, the background colors are often absolutely gorgeous. There's a certain way that they draw people. There's just something about them now because they've redone that part of the Met. There's a whole room that's just Renaissance portraits. And it's one of my favorite rooms in the whole Met now.
Okay, grads, finally number 24. Okay. So if you take this subway a lot in New York City, some of the time you're underground, which is fine. And so you're just underground. But there are places in New York City where it comes out from underground and it's running above ground.
And this is so fun because now you're like kind of raised, you're looking all around in New York City, which is super fun and interesting. And what I love about it is it feels kind of free and wild because you're sort of racing through this urban landscape, but you also feel safe because you're in this train compartment, you're in the subway, which is very familiar, very safe.
And I just love this combination. And so most of the time when I'm traveling, I'm underground. But every once in a while, I'm going to someplace where I do go above Grand, and that always feels like kind of a special treat for me. And I haven't really memorized when that is. So it's always very exciting and surprising when it happens.
I love your list. I think this is a great idea to make a list of things that please you. So I should do this in 25 as well. Yeah, you love it. It'll be so fun. And then it's so fun to talk about it. All right, Gretchen, what's our spotlight on a tool this week? Okay, well, we've been talking about everybody trying to get more into the habit of reading in 2025.
And if you're trying to build a habit of reading, it helps to have a list of books that you're very excited to read. And the Read 25 and 25 Challenge has just started. And so we're helping everybody kick off by helping everybody make the list. We will give great prompts for how to think of the titles that you'll be looking forward to reading throughout the year.
You can join the SMS challenge starting January 5th. This is for the US only, alas. If you go to happiercast.com slash read 25 and 25, you can join up. More reading for all in 2025. Yes, I joined yesterday. Good. Yay. All right, Gretch, what is our quotation today?
Okay, now this was inspired by my list because so many of the items on my list reminded me of this passage from C.S. Lewis' book, Surprised by Joy. He writes, Once in those very early days, my brother brought into the nursery the lid of a biscuit tin, which he had covered with moss and garnished with twigs and flowers so as to make it a toy garden or a toy forest. That was the first beauty I ever knew.
What the real garden had failed to do, the toy garden did. It made me aware of nature. Not indeed as a storehouse of forms and colors, but as something cool, dewy, fresh, exuberant. As long as I live, my imagination of paradise will retain something of my brother's toy garden. I love that.
Don't Elizabeth, are you feeling more happier? Yes, I am feeling more happier. Thank you to Chuck. Get in touch, Gretchen's on threads, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram at Gretchen Rubin, and I'm on threads and Instagram atlascraft. Our email address is podcast at Gretchen Rubin.com. And for everything related to this episode, links, photos, and more go to happiercast.com.
Bye, Grudge. Bye, Elizabeth. The best time to start a happiness project is 20 years ago, or maybe 25 years ago. The second best time is now.
So Gretchen, are you going to have all new things on the 25 list of things that please you? You have to, right? Yeah. And I've already started making it. I already have three things on there. And I'm thinking that maybe I'll have all like printed out and put it in a journal so that like over the years I'll have this list because it just makes me happy just to look at it. Yeah. From the onward project.
