When approaching the bakery I saw a man asking for coins. I've often seen him and usually don't react well to his whiney tone of his voice.
This time I decided I'd give him something. After I'd paid for my tea-to-go, I got a 5 Euro bill ready.
Leaving the store really slowly so he'd have a good chance to approach me, I nearly ran into him.
"Would you maybe have some coins for me?" he asked.
I said, "No, sorry, I don't," and watched his face fall already at what he thought was a refusal, one of many thousands he probably gets each day.
"I only have this for you", I said and held the bill in front of his eyes. The way his jaw nearly fell and his eyes widened were priceless.
"Err ... wow!" he said, doing a double-take. "That's really ... Thanks."
"No problem," I said. "I'm doing well at the moment, and I wanted to share it - have a good day!" And I walked away.
Actually, I had trouble not sauntering, and I did giggle and laugh out loud for the next 200m. Really, you should have seen his face. He totally had not seen that coming!
The joy, I think, did not just come from the fact that I love being generous. It also came from breaking up his expectations of what would happen, to allow for that tiny moment of amazement.
Wishing you the very deepest happiness and joy you're looking for!
