Niceness Tingle

Today, I will be describing a sensation that I enjoy a great deal. Doing so will be an experiment. I have never before encountered the sensation in any form of literature. That makes me wonder if I am the only one who ever experiences it.
On rare occasions, someone I know only somewhat will do something very friendly for me that I did not expect and would never have predicted. It’s hard to be more specific about the trigger than that. It has never been something overly generous. It’s always just something extremely thoughtful, but in a completely unexpected way. Also, the trigger has never been anything that could possibly seem to require something in return.

The result, rare though it is, is amazing. It’s difficult to put into words, but emotionally, I feel pleased and faintly detached from my surroundings. But even more amazing, I get the faintest of tingling sensations, strongest in my shoulders and shoulder blades but continuing up my neck and ending at my temples. This sensation is easier to describe. It feels very much like the afterglow of a REALLY good (but quick) shoulder rub.

However, unlike with a real shoulder rub, the tingling can continue for hours. It will ebb and flow with my choice to dwell on the event that triggered it in the first place. Again, for clarity, the pleasing physical sensation in question returns and grows stronger via simply thinking about the events that triggered it. As such, the sensation is inexorably linked to the thoughts of the thoughtful/friendly act that made it possible. Topical euphoria.

If my memories from the era can be trusted, I used to experience this sensation much more often as a small child. The first time I remember it happening dates back to a time from which I don’t have very many memories at all. I was in kindergarten, at the table nearest to the left window, and I was coloring with a group of several other children. Given our age, I was not expecting much in the way of generosity from my peers. I was very much surprised when a girl sitting to my left noticed that I did not have a yellow crayon. I knew that she noticed because she said as much, handed me the crayon, and said that she thought what I was coloring would look really good with it. Tingles.

Another example comes from much later. I was in sophomore year French class, but we had a substitute teacher. I was sitting in the front row. The class was pretty much a non-silent study hall because the normal teacher was absent. I think I asked the sub for the date. The topic somehow worked its way to how it’s difficult to remember which months have fewer than 31 days. The sub then shared with me a method of counting out the months on the knuckles of your fingers that makes it easy to remember. Tingles.

The sensation is interesting for me in that I can’t fake myself into it. I’ve never read anything that inspired the sensation in me. I can’t just imagine or predict new things that would make me feel that way. And yet, if an event manages to give me the sensation at all, it will retain the power seemingly forever. I’ve really enjoyed writing this post. It was inspired by a very recent event which I will not anesthetize by describing. Not even a month prior, another situation surprised and reminded me of the sensation after a very, very long dry spell. And now, I have recounted two more triggers from much further back. Tingles, tingles, tingles, tingles.

If you have any idea what I’m talking about, please let me know. I’ve always assumed I was the only one. But I wish you all many tingles in the future.