It’s a great holiday for good deeds. Think of all the people you’ll see — at fireworks, at the beach, in your backyard with their feet in the kiddie pool.

“Wherever there is a human being there is an opportunity for kindness” — Seneca.

Twitter peep math_magic is the first to ring in!

You can join in, too! We’d like it lots if you did.

Just leave a comment or @Altrooist  your acts of kindness, your good deeds, your letting your little sister have the last slice of blueberry pie! So easy, so awesome. That’s how we like it.

Go good!

I’ve always been fascinated with sameness. Not in hair-dos or car choices but in the overarching sameness to how we live our lives, the things we pick to matter the most and our shared quest for Happy.

But Happy can be elusive. And while I don’t have it figured out yet, there are a few things I’ve learned from life and from others that can make Happy a more routine visitor and less of a mysterious stranger.

1. Think that not being happy isn’t all that bad. Try to appreciate the ebb and flow of happy to unhappy. There will always be ebb and flow.

2. Don’t compare yourself to others. Happiness based on being better-off than someone else is only good until someone comes along you feel lesser than. Base your happiness on the stability of you and your character.

3. Get comfortable with change. Fighting it will cause more unhappiness than is necessary.

4. Do good. The best way to be happy is to make others happy.

5. See the good around you. Our radars can easily be tuned to notice more bad than good. Catching a few newspaper headlines as you walk by a box or a week of nightly news can throw your radar out of whack. The good is all around you. Readjust as necessary to see it.

6. Smile. This could also be called: Fake it ’til you make it.

7. Meditate. Having some quiet time will keep you centered.

8. Get 8 hours of sleep. It’s hard to be happy when you are cranky.

9. Eat lots of local fruits and vegetables. It provides connection to your community, climate and farmers. Food is strangely powerful.

10. Foster community with your friends, family and neighbors. Feeling part of something is key to being happy. Make yourself useful, spend time with those around you, meet your neighbors.

What have you learned about being happy?

Our CSS-wiz Shane was wowed by some good he encountered on a Seattle city bus. When you look, you see it. That’s my theory anyway and is part of the reason for Altrooist. You do some good, you feel good, you notice others doing good and suddenly the world seems a little nicer, a little smaller and whole lot brighter.

Follow Shane on Twitter here (he’s funny, we recommend it) and here is us.

Mr. President is in the know.

Like everyone else in the world we signed up for Twitter. And like everyone else in the world we went on a mad following spree. The first people to follow us back: me (uh, duh), Boo (our design super-star) and THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

Yeah, I know he follows everyone ’cause he’s nice like that but I was still giddy to capture the moment.

Wanna get in on the action? You’ll find us here: www.twitter.com/altrooist