Yes, I drink coffee. Black.

Once you decide to witness only the good in people, it can be quite astounding to see how beautiful and generous society really is. No longer do you see the guy cut you off on the highway, or the moody cashier at the grocery store. You begin to feel compassion for all, and appreciate that everybody has a story, and guess what? It is most likely very, very different from yours.

I found myself sitting in a Tim Horton's this morning, sipping a medium black, and reading "As A Man Thinketh" by James Allen. I positioned myself right next to the main doors to the coffee shop, which proved to be too distracting for a good read, but was the perfect standpoint from which to observe what I thought was extraordinary citizenship.

Over the 40 minutes I was there, I guesstimate maybe 15 or 20 people passed in and out of those doors. After the first 3 or 4, I noticed a heart-warming trend. Everybody—every single person—held the door open for the next. It was amazing. People would reach to grab the door and hold it open for a Dad and his son, for the man balancing coffees and boxes of TimBits, for the professional woman who held a briefcase in one hand a cell phone in the other. Everybody smiled. Everybody acknowledged. Everybody was just so intuitively generous and grateful.

Look for this goodness in all people. Find—or better yet, make—opportunities to send a silent wish for prosperity and wellbeing for all who cross your path. Smile, and the world will smile with you.