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85 Wholesome Posts To Give You The Dumbest And Happiest Grin

It’s easy to get caught up in the negativity of the world. Our feeds are filled with so much bad news that it can be difficult to believe there’s still any goodness here on planet Earth. It doesn’t help that doom-scrolling has become a daily habit, and that world leaders seem to have lost the plot.

Don't despair because Bored Panda is on a mission to restore your faith in humanity. We've put together a sweet compilation of some of the most wholesome, heartwarming and positive pics that we’ve collected from across the internet. They perfectly capture the everyday miracles that make life so magical, and prove there’s still a lot of love left in the world. Scrolling through them might just make you feel as if you’ve finally found a long-lost pocket full of sunshine.

Click here & follow us for more lists, facts, and stories.

#1 A Couple Months Ago, Reddit Taught Me That Newlyweds Used To Plant Sycamore Trees On Both Sides The Walkway Leading To Their House, Then Join Them Together To Symbolize Two Becoming One. Today I Saw It For The First Time

#2 Been Estranged From My Family For Several Years. So, I Got Myself Family For Birthday This Year

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#3 The Perfect Interactions:

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If it seems like scrolling through these posts leaves you feeling a bit lighter, you probably aren't imagining it. Good, wholesome, and positive content is proven to uplift us. Research has shown that feel-good stories and pics can trigger dopamine release. That's the neurotransmitter associated with feelings of pleasure and reward.

"When we read about very inspiring achievements, uplifting, very good stories, or tales of resilience, our brain interprets this as a rewarding experience, boosting mood and motivation," explains the Insight Mental Wellness site.

#4 The Monster Protection

#5 The Grene Haired Angels:

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#6 My Husband Noticed That No One Was Eating The Oranges

The mental health experts add that positive content can also act as emotional “buffer zones.” Meaning, when we read or look at uplifting stories and images, it becomes easier to cope with the negativity around us, or the challenges we're facing. And I'm sure we can agree that there's more than enough negative news doing the daily rounds at the moment.

That's because many traditional news outlets have an unwritten rule: "If it bleeds, it leads." In other words, bad news gets priority.

#7 Getting Grey, 15 Years Together

#8 The Important Requests

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#9 My 15 Year Old Made Me Dinner When I Worked Late

Me and my kiddo been going through a lot lately. We now live in an apartment minus my abusive ex husband. Tonight was my first late night at work. Came home and dinner was ready and she had picked a movie for us to watch AND she told me she missed me today. Shes never done this before. We are healing.

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Researchers at Berkeley University say that despite us complaining about all the bad news out there, people are naturally attracted to negative news. This, they explain, is in part because "our brains are primed to scan the environment for danger and remember threats later, as a way of promoting survival."

But being exposed to so much fear-inducing content can be really bad for our mental health. It can raise our cortisol levels, which leads to fatigue, irritability, depression, and long-term health problems. That's why many people are starting to disengage, or not watch/read the news.

#10 Grateful For The Teachers Who Have Cared For My Children As I Would

#11 Life Lesson

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#12 My Old-As-Dirt-With-A-Million-Health-Conditions Cat Licked His Plate Clean Today And It Fills Me With Joy

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One 2014 study, conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and NPR found that consuming negative news is one of the leading causes of stress among Americans. Another found that people showed an increase in symptoms of anxiety and depression after only 14 minutes of news consumption.

#13 Man Honors His Deceased Dog With A Sculpture Made From Pieces Of Wood That The Two Collected Together

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#14 He Hugs Me Like This Every Time I Come Home From College, His Face Says It All

#15 Pay Packet

To protect your own sanity, Mental Health America suggests limiting how much news you read or watch.

"Doomscrolling might help you feel more informed about how to protect yourself from the troubles of the world, but it ultimately does more harm than good," warns the site. "Aim for no more than 30 minutes per day if possible."

Thankfully, scrolling through good news stories (or positive pics like the ones featured here) can also help by reducing cortisol levels, providing some calm, and counterbalancing the awful effects of negative news.

#16 The Perfect Uses Of Paychecks

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#17 Mrs. Higgins!!

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#18 I Went Back To The Laundry Room Looking For My Missing Socks... And Found This. Totally Forgot These Little Guys Have Magnetic Hands, So They Just Keep Sticking Together

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Psychology Today even suggests going on a "good news diet." Apart from it benefiting our own mental health, the site argues that society as a whole might win.

"If we all started clicking on the positive news, and getting our friends and relatives to develop the same habit, there would be more positive stories in the news," it explains. "Because people are addicted to negative news, the news media gives us more of it."

#19 Back Home

#20 The Shocking Displays Of Plane Ettiquette

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#21 Painted My First Mural In Toronto. Today The Kid Who Inspired It Came By To Check It Out

If the algorithms embedded in the news media are designed to give us more of what we want, notes the site, then if enough of us boycott the bad news, and reinforce the good news with clicks, "it will lead to one of those virtuous cycles, with the result being more positive news stores to choose from."

In 2017, the Guardian launched a pilot project to see how readers would respond if the media outlet deliberately sought out, and reported on, the good things happening in the world. The response proved that people want positivity...

#22 The Grandmotherly Love Stories:

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#23 My 98 Year Old Grandma Has Been Making Me Birthday Cards For Years. This One Is The Most Plain Of Them All, But Meant The Most

#24 The Upper Floor Started It

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In announcing that they'd be moving forward with providing more positive stories, the Guardian's team said that reader numbers for "this kind of journalism" have proven remarkably robust.

"News doesn’t have to be bad," they added. "The planet is complex. Away from the horror and conflict, the shouting and the skulduggery, away from the tragedy, disaster and zero-sum misanthropy, there is a wide world of answers and improvements, of win-win and mutual support, of selflessness and curiosity, of movements and innovations."

#25 Villagers In India Made Giant Sweaters To Keep Rescued Elephants Warm

#26 My Grandfather's Dog Passed Away Last Year. Today We Surprised Him With These Cuties

#27 One Hour Of My Day + A Text = Smile & Happy Tears

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#28 The Library

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#29 The Purest Pup Ever

#30 My Step Dad And The K’nex Ferris Wheel He Built, For No Reason Other Than He Found The K’nex In The Attic. All The Grandchildren Are Age 14+. He’s So Proud Of It. My Mums Going To Put Fairy Lights And Easter Eggs On It

#31 My Hotel Room Cleaner Made Me A Towel Animal, And Over The Next Weeks He Left Them There Until It Became A Towel Zoo

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#32 A Kind Stranger From This Community Sent A Laptop All The Way To Yemen For My Project

Huge shoutout to the legend who sent us this laptop. He’s a software engineer and included a ton of coding material that we’ll add to our server for others to learn from. Whish i could tag, but his account us deleted.
With summer coming, power cuts here in Yemen are getting longer and more frequent—sometimes most of the day. A laptop like this, that can run during blackouts, makes a huge difference for us. Thank you again for the support over the years. It genuinely means everything and is changing lives here

#33 Tribute To My Girls: The Left Paw Print With The Single Pink Toe Is On The Left, And The Right Paw Print Is For Her Sister That Passed Away

#34 We Just Got A Lovebird And Every Time I Take Selfies She Wants To Join In And Look At Herself In The Screen

#35 "I'm Glad You Have Enough Love In Your Life That That Response Comes Naturally"

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#36 The Cherished Family Members:

#37 My Son Has Been Growing His Hair For 4 Years And Donated 12” To Www.wigs4kids.org Today!! Emotional Day But Couldn’t Stop Smiling I’m So Proud

#38 The Little Thank You

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#39 My Dad Sanded And Spray Painted The Wheelchair Frame Pink And Gold, Used Rainbow Bike Spoke Covers, Got A Pink Pushrim Cover, And My Iconic Tiger Wheel Covers By Izzy Wheels

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#40 The Words Of Encouragement

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#41 My Best Friend Sent Me Not One, Not Two, But Three Care Packages Full Of Ramen, Drinks, And Even A Little Duck Night Light After I Told Him I Was Short On Food And Mine Had Broken

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#42 It Should Always Be, The Thought Behind The Gift, Not The Price It Costs

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#43 Sleeping 100 Years Apart

#44 My Aunt And Mother Conspired To Change My Childhood Stocking To My Chosen Name (Nonbinary/Trans)

My birthname is Emma, but I’ve been going by Emmet since 10th grade (although I didn’t come out to my family and start going by that with them until the last few years) after I started identifying as nonbinary (they/them pronouns, please).
My family has thankfully been very accepting and has been trying their best to gender me properly. I’m very thankful for them being so kind and accepting of me being me. It’s been hard for them to adjust, but they’re doing everything they can to use my name and pronouns rather than my birthname and assigned gender at birth pronouns.

One thing that’s bothered me for a while is my childhood Christmas stocking. It had my birthname on it, and I thought about ordering a new one, but the company that made them has since gone defunct. My family’s stockings all match, and we’ve had them for as long as I can remember, so I didn’t want to just buy a different style of stocking.

Yesterday, after my paternal aunt came into town, my mom asked me to put up the Christmas stockings. Mine was the last in the stack. The moment I picked it up, I realized it now had my chosen name on it instead of my birthname. It made me so incredibly happy!! I had no idea how they did it until my mom and aunt explained that my mom had given my aunt the stocking, and my aunt had used similar yarn to edit my name, mimicking the font that was used.

The great thing is that it’s 100% reversible!! My original name is still underneath, untouched!! Not that I ever plan on reverting it back to my birthname, but it’s really cool to me that the history behind the stocking is still embedded into its being. Emma is still a part of me, just as she’s a part of this stocking. There would be no me without her.

I don’t think any gift I’ll get this Christmas will top this one. I’ll be able to open my stocking on Christmas morning with my real name on it, and that means the world to me. I’m so grateful to have such a wonderful family to call my own.

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#45 I Turned My Grandmother's Kitchen Wallpaper Into A Dress

#46 Woman In The Park

#47 An Elderly Gentleman Walking Past Me In The Woods Just "Tipped Me" £2 Because I Was Picking Up Litter

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#48 I Sewed Grandmother’s Beautiful Crocheted Doilies Onto My Wedding Dress. I Wanted To Honor Her In Some Way On Our Day

#49 Just Met 5 Mins Prior ????

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#50 Daughter's Credit Card

#51 A Photo Shoot With The Same Photographer Taken 2 Years Apart — Minus 100 Pounds And With 1 Engagement Ring

#52 My Mom Wrote This On The Wall Next To My Dad’s Tool Bench 25 Years Ago And He Still Has It Up

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#53 Doggo Trying Ice-Cream For The First Time

#54 The Extremely Productive Car Rides

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#55 Received This Note After A Concert I Just Went To

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#56 Married For 17 Years Today, Together For 34

#57 Yesterday Was My Grandfathers 90th. When I Asked Him What He Wanted To Do, He Said He Wanted To Get Haircuts Together

#58 The Letters From Old Friends

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#59 This Is Kiwi The Parrot. She Just Got Her Hair Made And She Thinks She’s The Main Character

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#60 My 5-Year-Old Told Me

#61 Baby’s First Flight. 11 Hours To Hawaii At 9 Weeks Old

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#62 My Daughter Asked Me To Babysit Her Stuffed Animal Today So I Took It With Me To Uber And Snapped Pictures At The Places We Visited

#63 My Ten Year Old Son Sent This To Me While I Was At Work Tonight

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#64 5 Generations In One Photo!

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#65 My Parents Kidnapped My Stuffed Elephant

So I recently visited my parents (they live near New York/Philly area I live in the California/Arizona area) and ended up forgetting my stuffed elephant. Upon hearing this news they went into my room grabbed the elephant (his names Pablo) and have been taking everywhere they go. I’m talking grocery store, out to eat, to work. Wherever they go Pablo follows. They’re sending my pictures like of him like he’s having the time of his life. They played Tik tac toe with him, on a kids menu at Olive Garden. This is the best thing my parents have done.