5-Minute Writers Happiness Exercise: On Tour
Imagine what spreading goodness might look like, sound like, feel like.
Welcome to the weekly 5-minute Writers Happiness Exercises. They show up in your inbox every Tuesday to invite more connection to your own creativity and heart, which is crucial — especially now. Remember that your art is resistance. That your creativity is magic. That your work is important. Writing changes the world - let’s change it together.
Listen to this Writers Happiness Exercise:
"The trip was conceived as a four-day spontaneous, meandering journey to care for people as we met them, wherever we met them, doing whatever they needed. ... One July morning, after a few weeks of preparation, we spun a Twister wheel we'd converted into an oversized compass, let it choose our direction, and hopped into vans loaded up with tools, camping gear, and care packages. We set out to be a source of goodness in the world, not knowing where it would all lead."
~ John Pavlovitz
One of the best ways to build our own happiness is to attend to the happiness of others. Not only does this show up time and again in scientific studies; it's also something of a given in spiritual and mindfulness practices centered around happiness.
In his wonderful book Hope and Other Superpowers: A Life-Affirming, Love-Defending, Butt-Kicking, World-Saving Manifesto, John Pavlovitz tells how he took forty teens and adults on what they called a Goodness Tour, heading out to destinations unknown with only the plan to be the people the world needed.
Today's exercise is riffing on that. You can do this in writing or in your head, whichever you prefer. Either way, the directions are short and simple. Set your timer for five minutes, and grab writing gear if you'd like to use it.
For the whole five minutes, either in writing or in your head, walk yourself through whatever you already have planned today—or, if it's evening, through the day you have planned for tomorrow—but instead of simply reviewing what's going to happen, see if you can approach it as though your main focus for the entire day is to be on your own Goodness Tour. Note places you can be the person you think the world needs, places where you can bring a little extra kindness or goodness or laughter or love to whatever it is you're already going to be doing. That part is key: there's no need to change whatever it is you already have going on.
Imagine what spreading goodness might look like, sound like, feel like. What would you do? How would you speak? What would your facial expression be? These acts of goodness don't need to be huge; in fact, most of them probably shouldn't be. Let them flow naturally out of your regular day and personality. Imagine the people who might be the recipient of this goodness. Imagine how they respond, how your acts of goodness might ripple throughout their day to even more people.
Whether you are writing or walking through this in your head, be as detailed as possible as you imagine your Goodness Tour. One very important thing: Make sure to include yourself as a recipient of your own goodness. Don't change who you are or do things that are harmful to yourself. After all, true kindness and goodness (and happiness!) only happen when we treat ourselves with the utmost respect.
Walk yourself through your day until the timer goes off. When it does, there's no need to remember what you've done on this Goodness Tour, and there's no need to commit to doing it as you actually move through your day. These five minutes of focused attention are enough. That alone can shift the way your day unfolds.
The 100% optional, only-if-you-feel-like-it way to take this exercise throughout the whole week: Take yourself on a Goodness Tour all week by doing this five-minute mental walk-through of your day as many mornings as possible this week.
Splendid Mola is a revolutionary refuge for writers, created by author Lori Snyder, that offers online and in-person writing retreats, salons, fellowships, yoga, meditation, writing containers, tiny grants, and more. Much of it is free to attend because it is supported by the Mola Fund, a communal pot made up of small donations from anyone who wants to assure that all writers have access to writing support and community, without money determining who gets that and who does not. Everything on this Substack is free, so when you subscribe you are supporting programs for writers everywhere through the Mola Fund. For more information: www.writershappiness.com and www.splendidmola.com
Lori R Snyder is a writer, speaker, retreat leader, and yoga teacher. She is the founder of Splendid Mola and the Writers Happiness Movement, which are now combined under the one name of Splendid Mola. She is also the author of the middle grade fantasy The Circus at the End of the Sea and expects her second book, another middle grade fantasy with a working title of Zephyr and the Winds of Time, to be out in 2026 (but you know how that goes, sometimes.). You can find her author info at lorirsnyderauthor.com.
What did spreading goodness look like, sound like, feel like?