5 Ways to Increase Happiness

Five ways to instant happiness.

If you, too, have been surfing the recent wave of cancellations across all things life, and have replaced “supply chain” with “omicron” in your drinking game, your filled-up cup of holiday joy might already be depleted. But rather than lament our Groundhog Day existence, we choose to shake things up with some big, socially distanced delights disguised as little things. (PS: For a quick, non-hysterical update on all things omicron, we like to give this podcast a listen then carry on.)

Color us hopeful.

We always admire Pantone’s attempt to capture our global sentiment in a shade, and we’re on board with the color authority’s recent announcement of Very Peri as its 2022 color of the year. Noting that we are indeed in a time of transition and emerging (albeit slowly) from lives of isolation, the color “displays a spritely, joyous attitude and dynamic presence that encourages courageous creativity and imaginative expression.”

Déjà vu, all over again.

Way back when, in early COVID times, you might recall what a tonic it was when ESPN released their Michael Jordan documentary, “The Last Dance.” Since the next month portends to feel eerily similar, Fox’s All Madden is right on time (and timed impeccably with the legendary coach’s December passing at age 85). We’re ready for some football nostalgia through his eyes.

A magic pill.

While nothing tops being vaxxed and boosted, Pfizer has received Emergency Use Authorization of its antiviral drug Paxlovid based on very promising data demonstrating as much as 90 percent efficacy in preventing COVID hospitalization. The first doses have reached providers and will go to the most vulnerable, and though it’s not a silver bullet, the drug’s approval points to a growing arsenal of tools to save lives and relieve overwhelmed hospitals.

Reason to believe.

If you’re team AFC Richmond, you might have been a tad down in the dumps when you hit play on the last “Ted Lasso” episode for the season. While we have been soothing ourselves with baking the official Ted Lasso biscuits, ICYMI this cute holiday claymation short is also a heartening watch.

We love Lucy.

Before listening to this season of “The Plot Thickens,” we had no idea just how much of a Verse hero Lucille Ball was. Her signature “I Love Lucy” didn’t debut until Ball was 40, the same year she became a mother for the first time. She was the first woman to head a major studio, greenlighting Mission Impossible and Star Trek over the objections of her board. So naturally, we were thrilled to see she and Desi were getting the Aaron Sorkin treatment in “Being The Ricardos,” starring Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem, on Amazon Prime. Happy days: here again, indeed.