The 12 Best Feelings In The World That Cost Zero Dollars
You don't have to spend money to feel really, really, really great.
Nina Buday / Shutterstock It’s easy to conflate the idea of happiness with wealth. Money provides access, along with a sense of stability, which are both essential for our survival. Yet we need more than just the ability to survive: we need things that help us thrive. And fortunately, many of the best feelings in the world cost zero dollars.
If you ask someone what they want most out of life, they’ll probably talk about love and friendship, following their passions and having a purpose to guide them. If we get the chance to fill our days with the feelings those things bring, we can confidently say we have a deeply nourishing life.
Here the 12 best feelings in the world that cost zero dollars
1. The comfort of a really good hug
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The comfort of a really good hug is one of the best feelings in the world that costs zero dollars. There’s nothing quite like being folded into a loved one’s arms and letting the warmth of your shared affection flow through you. Hugs are one of those magical things that transcend emotion. If we’re feeling low, a really good hug can help us feel less alone. Hugs can be celebratory, a way to acknowledge someone’s achievements.
According to psychological research, hugging is also a valuable tool for conflict resolution. A study looked at the social conflict people experienced and their emotional state, while tracking their “hug receipt” for the day.
The researchers found that “receiving a hug on a day that interpersonal conflict was experienced correlated with improved emotional well-being.” They noted that hugs act as a buffer against “enduring relationship conflict” by “tangibly conveying care and empathy.”
While it might seem like an obvious conclusion, the study proved that the comfort of a really good hug can help people connect and convey how deep their feelings are, without saying a word.
2. Unexpected compliments
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Another one of the best feelings in the world that costs zero dollars is unexpected compliments. Most of the time, we go about our lives in a bubble. We avoid random interactions with strangers, which keeps a sense of distance between us and the rest of the world. But every so often, someone will bridge that gap by giving an unexpected compliment, making us feel good when we least expect it.
Vanessa Bohns, a social psychologist at Cornell University, was part of a team that conducted a series of studies looking at how people felt after giving and receiving compliments. The studies found that people giving compliments underestimated how good people would feel after hearing an unexpected compliment.
The people on the receiving end of the surprise compliment weren’t the only ones to feel uplifted. The compliment-givers reported being in a better mood after sharing their compliment, as well.
“Many of us have moments where we notice and appreciate something about another person — perhaps we like what they are wearing, or we were really impressed by their presentation — but we keep our appreciation to ourselves, rather than sharing it,” Bohn said. “This research offers an explanation for why: In the moment, we tend to forget how good a simple, even awkwardly delivered, compliment will make another person feel.”
3. Scents that remind you of good memories
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One of the best feelings in the world is smelling something that reminds you of a good memory. You might walk past a bakery, early in the morning, right as they’re pulling pastries and loaves of bread out of the oven, and the warm, fresh-baked scent transports you to being a kid in your grandmother’s kitchen, watching her bake.
According to the Harvard Brain Science Initiative, our sense of smell is closely connected to memory based on the way our brains are mapped out. We process smell in the olfactory bulb, sending signals to the limbic system, which includes the hippocampus and amygdala, the areas of the brain related to memory and emotion.
The scents we associate with good memories act like a time machine, collapsing the past into the present, reminding us of where we come from and what we hold closest to our hearts.
4. Overhearing someone say nice things about you
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Overhearing someone say nice things about you is one of the best feelings in the world. When someone tells you something nice about yourself directly, it’s a clear act of kindness, yet it’s very common to question their intentions. They didn’t really mean it, you tell yourself, planting the seeds of self-doubt within yourself.
When you happen to overhear someone saying nice things about you without them knowing you’re there, it can wash away your doubt in an instant. Sharing what they like about you with someone who isn’t you shows that they said the nice thing because they really believe it to be true.
Overhearing someone say nice things about you feels like seeing a shooting star cut across a dark sky. It happens so fast that when you blink, it’s gone, but if you look closely, you can still see the shimmering afterglow.
5. When you look good in a picture
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One of the best feelings in the world that costs zero dollars is seeing yourself in a picture and loving how you look. While confidence is built from the inside out, sometimes, we need a little boost, looking good in a photo can provide the jolt you need.
It’s easy to focus on our flaws, especially when we see them reflected back to us in pictures. We notice how one eye squints more than the other. We cringe at the way our bangs fall. We are our own harshest critics, and looking good in a picture can snap us out of that negative feedback loop, even if it’s just for a moment.
We are more than just our appearance. Being beautiful has nothing to do with having a perfectly straight smile or flawless skin. Being beautiful is about feeling beautiful, which is a feeling no one can take away.
6. Seeing someone’s vulnerable side
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Seeing someone’s vulnerable side is one of the best feelings in the world that costs zero dollars. Being vulnerable requires us to be brave and drop the armor we shield ourselves with. As social worker Terry Gaspard shared, “The act of falling in love is the ultimate risk. Love is uncertain. It's inherently risky because our partner could leave without a moment's notice, betray us, or stop loving us.”
“Create a more trusting relationship with a partner by giving yourself permission to be vulnerable and take risks… where you can be comfortable sharing your dreams and being your authentic self,” she concluded.
The subtle hum of fear that you’ll lose your partner falls silent when they show you their vulnerable side. They trust you enough to let you in and let you hold the parts of themselves they struggle with. Being able to receive someone else’s vulnerability is a sign of how deep your love is. Seeing someone’s vulnerable side doesn’t cost money, but it makes you feel rich.
7. Hearing the words ‘I love you’
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Hearing the words “I love you” is one of the best feelings in the world that costs zero dollars. There are so many different kinds of love in this world, and being able to experience any of them, at all, is a sign of how lucky you are.
There’s the kind of love we have for our family, steadfast and grounding. There’s the love we have for our friends, a love that elevates us and inspires us to be our truest selves.
Holding onto romantic love means you revealed your soul to someone else and they took it all in, and said, “Yes, you’re the one I want to build a life with.”
Hearing the words “I love you” for the first time can be electrifying, and those words don’t lose their luster with use. The resonance they carry gets deeper as time passes. Hearing the words “I love you” means “I feel safe with you.” They mean someone is choosing to show up for you, which is the greatest gift.
8. Someone remembering small details about you
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Another one of the best feelings in the world that costs zero dollars is when someone remembers small details about you. Over the course of our lives, we meet so many people. Some are meant to stay forever, while others are just passing through. When someone recalls a little detail about you, one that you might not remember sharing, it signals that they were not only interested in what you said, they were really, fully hearing you.
The art of sharing a great conversation occurs when two people meet in the middle of their lived experiences and find common ground. Maybe you made some off-hand comment about the silly, endearing nickname your friends assigned you in college, and the next time you see that person, they remember what you told them.
Talking from a place of honesty and true interest in learning something new about each other is the key to making connections that last, no matter how long someone stays in your life.
9. Handmade gifts
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Receiving a homemade gift is one of the best feelings in the world that costs zero dollars. Our focus on materialism often means that we seek meaning in the price tag of our belongings.
We see our more expensive things as the most valuable, because they cost so much money to acquire. Money can’t buy you love, as they say, but true love can be shown with handmade gifts.
The macaroni necklace your niece made for you at daycare is not only a one-of-a-kind expression of her affection and her fine motor skills, it’s literally priceless. The shell your bestie found on the beach and presented to you like a precious gem is a sign that she was thinking of you halfway around the world, and she brought a piece of her adventure home to you.
10. When someone’s face lights up when they see you
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The feeling of seeing someone’s face lighting up when they see you is one of the best feelings in the world that costs zero dollars. It’s easy to be hard on yourself, especially when your inner critic tries to convince you that you’re not good enough and no one really cares about you.
Talking back to that negative feedback loop can disrupt your feelings of low self-worth, so that you can then reroute how you see yourself.
Finding confidence through external validation only doesn’t really work, but knowing we are loved and cared for is an important aspect of creating close relationships and learning to love ourselves.
There’s that moment that happens, when you’re meeting a friend somewhere, and you notice them before they notice you. The expression on their face is blank, until they look across the crowd and see you, and their face lights up, and all is well with the world.
11. Being in nature
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Spending time outside is one of the best feelings in the world that costs zero dollars. Being in nature is a fully-body sensory experience, something that reminds us that we are alive, we are breathing, we are still here. There’s the sun’s glow on our skin, the sound of the wind rushing, the way the leaves on the trees move in unison. Being in nature can calm us down and wake us up at the exact same time, which is a truly amazing feeling.
“Nature has benefits for both physical and psychological human well-being,” psychologist Lisa Nisbet told the American Psychological Association.
“You can boost your mood just by walking in nature, even in urban nature,” she said. “And the sense of connection you have with the natural world seems to contribute to happiness even when you’re not physically immersed in nature.”
Psychological researchers are exploring an idea called attention restoration theory. They believe that nature plays a big role in replenishing our cognitive resources and restores our ability to pay attention and concentrate.
“Stress reduction and attention restoration are related,” Nisbet explained.
Your time in nature doesn’t have to be a three-day solo hiking trip. It can be something simple, like taking a walk, exploring a park, or drinking your morning coffee on your porch. No matter how to enter nature, being part of it is one of the best feelings, and it’s totally free.
12. Getting lost in a book
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Being immersed in a book is one of the best feelings in the world that costs zero dollars. There’s something truly special to curling up on the couch and losing yourself to characters who don’t exist, only they’re totally real to you. You get to see the world through someone else’s eyes, which is one way that reading is an expansive experience.
As a quotation referenced by the World Literacy Foundation declared, “If imagination and magical thinking connected to reason spur discovery, innovation, and new understandings, it can be maintained that literature has a key role in both developing and engaging imaginative and magical thinking.”
Reading books inspires us and opens up our hearts, which can be seen as a kind of magic.
Alexandra Blogier, MFA, is a staff writer who covers psychology, social issues, relationships, self-help topics, and human interest stories.