The helpful stranger leaves behind a world that feels slightly easier to enter.

One small act of help changes more than the situation it solves. Someone who stops to give directions, holds a bag, or explains where the queue starts has altered how safe the place feels for the next hour, and possibly how willing that person is to ask anybody anything again. Most people’s sense of whether the world is easy to enter was built out of moments like that.

You will pass at least one opportunity today, and it will look minor. Ask the person who seems lost whether they are looking for something. It takes half a minute, and the effect lasts longer than the exchange does.