It’s good to have a surprise, as long as it’s a positive one. Our bodies react favorably to good surprises, producing more dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is a substance that makes us feel good, so a pleasant surprise isn’t just great by itself; it literally makes us produce a chemical that makes the situation seem even better.
Of course, most of the time, you’ll be surprised by someone else, but you can’t necessarily rely on this happening (the very nature of a surprise means you won’t know if someone is planning something or not). Therefore, on occasion, it can be good to surprise yourself. It might seem that this would be impossible, but there are ways it can be done. Read on to find out more.
Join a Subscription Box List
A subscription box is a fantastic way to surprise yourself. Even though you have signed up to receive the boxes in the mail each month, you won’t know what is inside, so it will always be a surprise and always something to look forward to. At the very most, you’ll know what kind of items will be there when you open the box because you’ve chosen to receive a subscription box that has a specific theme, but even then, you won’t know exactly what’s inside.
There are hundreds of different subscription boxes to choose from. The boxes from scentmagic.com are a great example of what you can get; they contain a new fragrance each month, giving you a chance to try new perfume ideas that you might never have considered before. The same is true of baking boxes, book boxes, origami boxes, mug collection boxes, trading card boxes, and hundreds of other ideas. The anticipation of the subscription arriving combined with the pleasure of the surprise will be a treat every time it happens.
Read Your Journal
If you write a journal (and if you don’t, it’s something that is certainly worth starting for a variety of different reasons, including being helpful for positive mental health), do you ever go back and read it? Or do you simply write things down and then move on?
If you are in the latter category, a great way to surprise yourself is to look back at previous journal entries. You’ll be amazed at how much has changed and how much you have changed. Go back exactly one year, and even those 12 months will have brought about changes. The surprise comes because it’s likely you will have forgotten the little things you wrote about, but they add up to something quite wonderful.
Say Yes
When faced with a yes or no choice, the option to try something new or help someone out, or to not do anything and stay where you are, what do you normally go for? Most people will say no because they don’t want to run the risk of something going wrong; they are happy in their comfort zones.
Why not say yes instead? This would certainly be something that leads to a lot of surprising and enjoyable situations. You’ll learn new things and get to have experiences you would have missed out on otherwise.
Of course, you can’t say yes to everything; that would leave you exhausted, and some situations are dangerous or are something you really don’t feel comfortable doing. However, if you’re not sure what response to give, err on the side of yes, and see what happens.
