On my birthday, I asked friends and acquaintances to share their good news instead of just wishing me a happy birthday. I collected stories of recent achievements, positive experiences, and acts of kindness they had witnessed or been part of. The result was a diverse collection of uplifting stories that celebrated the positive aspects of life, showcasing the many ways people find joy, growth, and meaning in their everyday experiences.
I replied to everyone wishing me a happy birthday saying: “Thanks for the wonderful birthday wishes! This year, I’d love to celebrate by hearing your good news. Please share something like a recent achievement, a memorable positive experience, or an act of kindness you’ve witnessed. Your stories will make my day even brighter! I’ll collect them and share them.”
Positive Stories
Here are the short stories positive stories gifted to me, and you, from around the world:
– I just returned from a month with our family. Our 5 children, all of my partner’s siblings, her mom and all her father’s living siblings, all of my brothers’ families and my living brothers. It was a kind of homecoming I have not had in 40+ years.
– Due to the cancellation of my train, I found myself taking a taxi and even giving a ride to the airport to a passenger with two large suitcases. Two surprises: the taxi driver (driving an immaculate Mercedes minivan) was very kind, provided excellent service, and told us that he also responds to calls from the Uber app. The passenger, even more likable, was a Political Science/Computational Social Science scholar with a PhD from Pittsburgh and ongoing post-doc at a local University, who due to our bureaucracy (delays in issuing the residence permit) was returning home to Seoul for the summer, and will then come back with another temporary visa, at least until regularization is possible. Of course, I didn’t want money for the taxi, but he, with great thanks (“you saved my life”), promised that when he returns he’ll treat me to dinner. This is how an annoying and stressful moment like that of a canceled train turned into a pleasant and interesting experience, albeit an expensive one.
– My company just signed a new client, to represent his corporate speaking engagements.
– After 10 years of therapy, after removing a tumor, my life partner was able to stop taking heavy and debilitating drugs. And how we were absurdly unaware of what was happening 10 years ago and how each passing year seems like we’re almost waking up from the torpor of a bad dream. We’re still together, alive and healthy, thanks to doctors, medicine, and awareness of the fragility of our body. This makes us appreciate especially the simple moments of serenity with our family and our friends.
– My good news is an open innovation experience that started 8 years ago and is proving that there are no peripheries and that innovation can be done even far from common places.
– A few weeks ago, I had to pick up my daughter-in-law and baby/toddler granddaughters at our local train station. I rarely go to that area since it’s off by itself. There are a few homeless people meandering around there. As I crossed the small plaza to the entrance I saw a disheveled young man go to the trash bin in the center. I assumed he was throwing something away and admired that, but in fact he was looking for things. He was about 20 feet away from me. I reached for a $5 bill and deliberated for a moment. I called out to him and asked if he could use some money. He came over, and as I handed him the bill we exchanged the kind of spiritual look that makes us all human. His eyes were so bright and genuine.
– I recently completed my first vocational teaching certificate. And I am happy to have done it because teaching gives me satisfaction. Also, I read about a 70 year old bird named Wisdom this morning. The bird apparently just reproduced.
– After organizing dinners for academics, researchers, and other people for more than two years, I am now creating a formal association for it. In a friendly convivial moment, we talk about topics with high scientific but critical content related to medicine, and society🙂
– My recent achievement is a carkey holder repair. VW asked for 467 euros, eBay (DE) won at 33 euro, plus some time and skill from my side. Additionally, I got a replica of an 80s single board computer and I’m back programming in Z80 assembler after some 40 years, not the usual python and machine learning stuff but it’s incredibly funny.
– It has been a very good year, full of events for me and my family. Professionally, I’d like to mention the publication of my book on cybersecurity in the Metaverse.
– I’m happy because everyone in my circle, friends and relatives are doing well! I’m happy because I no longer have work-related worries! I’m happy because in the rot of the world there are small good news and beautiful experiences to be had!
– I’ve been practicing Buddhism for 33 years and I see and practice many acts of kindness and beauty. Yesterday a 94-year-old woman embraced Buddhist practice, it seemed to me a very courageous and revolutionary act at her age.
– The joy of knowing that next year several schools will allow me to work to train their kids for a safer, healthier, and more aware use of the web.
– My fifteen-year-old niece stayed with me in June with two of her friends. One is a closed-off rebellious teenage cactus. Despite having an excellent mind, she didn’t study this year, only getting straight A’s in math, so she was advised to leave high school. I managed to open her up and talk to her. When we said goodbye she hugged me tightly, and promised to follow my advice. Later she requested a meeting with her class teacher and fought to be allowed to stay, showing what she’s capable of.
– Finding a new home – USA – was for me the most significant event this past year. Given my home city doesn’t exist anymore, and I had difficulties defining home most of my life, it’s important to me.
– We have had two cryonics patients this year in Spain, and all together 6 humans since the first case. Additionally, there are 9 pets cryopreserved to have a second chance in the future 🙂
– This year I started studying the Nat cards again, nature spirits, which gift me with wonderful readings of reality 🙏🤩
– With the summer day today I was happy that our little son of 7 months was enjoying the Jacuzzi so much that he couldn’t stop laughing when I throw him in the air into the water. That he was having a rubber cup in his mouth sounding like a chewbacca and looking like a puber who tries to put a glass of beer into his mouth.
– A personal success I’m particularly proud of: cutting off negative relationships with clients who abuse my time and dedicating energy to those who really need help, regardless of their solvency.
– I am finishing two online courses today. One of them, in JavaScript, took me a while, and I am glad to be done with it.
– I was recently brought on as a partner for a wonderful startup that is creating an AI tool for making better matches of foster kids and compatible foster parents. This tool holds a lot of promise for the current generation of foster kids.
– From September 3 to October 12 we will be in Italy with my wife.🥰
– Until a couple of years ago, with a dear artist friend of mine, we shared the desire to live for at least 132 years or so, and gradually we increased this goal, moving it timidly further ahead. This is due to the vast curiosity that pervades us and the desire to do and create. Now, after changing house and having 1000 meters of land cleaned into a bushy lawn at my disposal, I’ve “revitalized” it by transplanting about a hundred trees and various plants. The first half is an orchard, vegetable garden, and flowers, while the second half is partly orchard but also medium and tall trees, such as chestnut trees, walnut trees, linden trees, mulberry trees, ginkgo biloba, birches, a touch of red with a Japanese maple “suminagashi” and the last arrival a weeping willow. In short, a park! And an overwhelming need to admire these plants in their very long journey until seeing them become majestic trees! I’ve now extended my life limit to 500 years. I have to read many books in the shade of these trees and draw and invent stories to write. The curiosity for life is great and there’s still so much energy to use, self-feeding it with the amazement given by the wonder that surrounds us. And to conclude: where I live now and how I live, sometimes a bit breathlessly, I don’t deny it, for me every day is a song to life.
– Last year, I served as my contracts interim Program Manager to save the contract. That’s kept a dozen of us gainfully employed since October and probably through September 2025!
– My 3 month-old granddaughter is rolling around and smiles constantly with the cutest dimples showing. A sight to delight any heart.
– My family’s real estate office has now been entrusted with the sale of my favorite vacation spot in all of Latin America. To be given the honor to seek out and select the next potential owner of this wonderful place is a great honor for me.
– My farm’s efforts to promote aquaculture have really borne fruit: now even more sustainable aquaculture facilities will be coming online in the next 5 years and even more research projects have been greenlit thanks to our advocacy and investment hunting efforts.
– My lifetime’s work finds its place in supporting the wellbeing of children, their families and their communitie, weaving together cultures.
(I translated the stories coming in four different languages, and slightly edited them for clarity, sometimes taking out personal information.)
Common Themes
There are some wonderful common themese in them.
– Personal Growth and Achievement. Personal and professional development, lifelong learning, and overcoming challenges. It includes stories about completing educational programs, achieving career milestones, learning new skills, and adapting to new situations. Satisfaction derived from self-improvement and accomplishing goals.
– Connections and Compassion. Elements of family relationships, acts of kindness, and community impact. It covers stories about family reunions, supportive relationships, random acts of kindness, and community initiatives. The joy and fulfillment found in human connections and helping others.
– Resilience and Positive Outlook. Overcoming adversity, finding silver linings in difficult situations, and maintaining an appreciative attitude towards life. It includes accounts of health recoveries, turning negative experiences into positive ones, and finding joy in everyday moments. The ability to face challenges with optimism and emerge stronger.
– Professional Success and Social Impact. Career achievements with broader social contributions. Stories about business successes, innovative projects, and work that makes a positive difference in society. Finding fulfillment through meaningful work and using one’s skills to benefit others.
– Embracing Change and New Experiences. New beginnings, exploring new places or ideas, and being open to change. Accounts of moving to new locations, starting new projects, or adopting new perspectives on life. Excitement and growth that come from stepping out of one’s comfort zone and embracing new opportunities.
This was a lot of fun! Next year maybe I will repeat it, or come up with a different experiment.
Thank you to all! 😍