My Holiday Wish for You

Something I Learned from the Organizational Psychologist Adam Grant

I live in Lake Tahoe, California, where we had three feet of snow over 24 hours last weekend. It was the biggest storm I’ve ever seen and stunningly beautiful. It’s been that kind of season so far.

One night, I woke up to a light shining in my window. It was so bright I got up out of bed and pulled back the curtain to look. What I saw was an incredibly bright full moon reflecting off fresh-fallen snow.

The effect was magical. It reminded me of how I thought of the holiday season as a child: Anything could happen, and whatever happened would be good.

It’s a perspective that is still fun to play with – something that reminds me of this word I learned from the organizational psychologist Adam Grant: “pronoia.”

Pronoia is the opposite of paranoia. It’s the state of believing that everyone you meet is conspiring to do you good.

In times when it seems like many people are conspiring to do bad, many other people are suffering, and there are great challenging in the world, pronoia (even tongue-in-cheek) may sound like a silly thing to talk about.

It’s like hope, optimism, and positive thinking.

Many of us today are afraid to feel or speak of positive emotions and perspectives like these – lest we be seen as naïve or set ourselves up for disappointment.

But what is life without hope, optimism, and positive thinking?

It’s a much darker place. And while we can agree there is plenty of darkness in the world, hope, optimism, and positive thinking are the glimmers of light we can bring.

They can create some needed balance. They can help uplift others. And they can inspire us with more energy, problem-solving, and love.

My dog has taught me this often – perhaps most clearly when we were all reeling from the COVID lockdown. For a time, I found it hard to get up and get going in the morning.

But every morning, he gave me that same excited look that said: “There are places to go and people to meet. Come on!” It changed my mood.

And I see daily how his spirit changes other people’s moods, too. He expects goodness, and, by and large, he gets it.

Of course, dogs, babies, and children are in a different category from adults. They tend to bring out the best in people.

But that doesn’t mean they can’t teach us something – something that, if we want to sound a bit more adult about it, we might speak of in terms of mindset. Having a good one matters.

So, my wish for you this season is: May you feel hopeful and, in turn, be met with at least one magical moment of something unexpected and good.  

See you in January!