There is something oddly satisfying about standing in front of a wall with a ball in your hand. You throw it, watch it bounce back, catch it, and throw it again. Sometimes you change the angle or increase the speed, but mostly you just repeat the same movement. The ball makes a familiar sound against …
You are cooking when your fingers accidentally brush against the hot edge of a pan. Your hand jerks away almost immediately, and a sharp sensation follows. Then comes a peculiar little movement. You bring your hand closer to your face, turn it slightly, and stare at the fingers that just touched the pan. Sometimes you …
You return home on a hot afternoon, reach for a glass of cold water, and drink it almost without stopping. The first few gulps feel especially satisfying. You lower the glass, take a breath, and a long “ahhh” escapes your mouth. Nobody asked you to make that sound, and you probably weren’t even thinking about …
You are walking down a familiar road when a small stone catches your attention. Without giving it much thought, you give it a gentle kick. It rolls a short distance ahead, and when you catch up, you kick it again. Soon, you are adjusting your steps to reach it at just the right moment, trying …
You get up from your chair because you need something from the kitchen. The reason is perfectly clear when you begin walking, and you barely give it another thought. But when you reach the kitchen, you stop and look around. You know you came here for something, although whatever it was seems to have disappeared …
A puppy rolls onto its back, paws folded uselessly against its chest. Its ears are slightly too large for its head. Its stomach is round. It looks up at you. And for some reason, you want to crush it. Not actually crush it, of course. You want to squeeze it, perhaps harder than seems reasonable. …
There are things you might hesitate to do alone that become strangely easier when someone else is standing beside you. Walking down an unfamiliar street late at night, entering a dark building, confronting someone behaving badly, getting onto a frightening amusement-park ride, or simply speaking up when something feels wrong can all change when we …
There is something strangely difficult about looking away from the sea. A person may arrive at a beach intending to stay for only a few minutes, yet soon find themselves standing at the edge of the water, watching one wave rise, fold and disappear after another. Nothing particularly surprising is happening. The waves do not …
There may be no faster way to make an ordinary object interesting than to place a small sign beside it saying DO NOT TOUCH. A sculpture we might otherwise walk past suddenly deserves a second look. A mysterious button becomes almost magnetic. A freshly painted wall somehow invites the fingertips. Even a harmless object behind …
Think about the people who have shaped your life, and your mind probably begins assembling a familiar collection of faces. Parents, teachers, friends, partners, colleagues, perhaps a doctor who helped you through a difficult moment or a stranger whose kindness stayed with you. We naturally imagine influence as something personal. Someone enters our life, does …
