One good thing can make your day.

Yes, of course, if you can buy a lottery ticket at your neighborhood 7-11 and win a million dollars, that will turn your day around in a hurry.

But let's get real. Probably you've had a more or less typical day, full of hassles and rejections and maybe a few smiles and a smattering of good conversation, but you're pretty much ready to go home and thaw something for supper and just chill. Or you may have had a truly rotten day, getting chewed out or dumped or even fired. You may be downright miserable, thinking that life is not worth living. Lord, if this is the way the rest of your days on this earth are going to go, you'll be needing more stimulants -- which, of course, will likely make things even worse.

So where's that lottery ticket when you need it?

Forget the lottery ticket and start to pay attention to good things that happen during your day. Probably there aren't that many, but once in a while -- not often enough -- something really good happens to us, totally unexpected, and it can turn a whole day around.

It can be as simple as a phone call. A friend of mine who hadn't heard from her son in Iraq for weeks got a call from him that said he was okay. No matter what had happened to her up till then -- the humiliations from the boss, the tacky comments of co-workers, the unreasonably angry customers -- she was in a good mood when she went home. One piece of good news had redeemed her day.

We humans are unique in that way. We can endure all sorts of pains and indignities, again and again, over and over, but just give us a glimpse of hope, a sign that someone cares, that we have a chance, that our luck is changing, and we're as resilient as any species. More so. We can't re-generate new tails when ours are bitten off, but we can make remarkable recoveries from the depths of despair, rising to unreasonable heights of optimism. We, as a species, want to believe.

Another friend of mine who was going through a not-nice divorce, and was doubting herself all around, received notice that her garden had been selected for the annual Tour of Gardens. She'd forgotten that she'd even entered the competition! So now all her attention was spent on getting her garden ready. Forgotten, at least for now, was what's-his-name and all that sorrow he had brought into her life.

It can happen any time, this gift of something going right. It may be one of your kids announcing that he or she has been been picked for some athletic team he or she was dying to be on or was named a cheerleader or got a part in a play or even a scholarship to a prized college. Or just the election of the candidate you voted for, and worked for, for Congress or even the Presidency. Election night has turned around lots of bad days. (Or not.) Good news is a shape-shifter.

On the whole, I'd say that most day-changers often fall into certain categories:

1) Something unexpected that buoys your spirits.

2) Something that you've been pinning your hopes on falling your way.

3) Something that has been hanging over your head suddenly being resolved.

There are more, of course, but these can get you started thinking about your own day and how it might be brightened at any time, without warning.

The unexpected includes not just the winning lottery ticket but also that welcomed phone call from someone you really wanted to talk to or from someone telling you what you had hoped to hear. Good news can come by phone, so stay connected.

Just as easily it can be a good deed done for you -- someone chasing after you in a parking lot to hand back the wallet you dropped, or the waitress who tells you that you don't have to pay because your steak wasn't cooked right (and who you tip generously anyway), or a mechanic who says he didn't find anything wrong with your car and so there's no charge (despite the time he put in trying to find something wrong) -- or a good deed you did for someone else in need, anything from lending a stranded person your cell phone to making a call to be picked up to giving that same someone a ride or . . . you get the point. Almost anything good that happens to you or that you make happen can lift your mood, even improve your day.

Then there's that something you've been pinning your hopes on, putting all your energy into, to the point that you're afraid you're losing your grip on sanity. It may be a job promotion you desire, a novel you've slaved over for years and finally sent to publishers, or even a relationship you've been cultivating forever. All it takes for your day to suddenly seem golden is for the boss to come out, all smiles, and shake your hand, or for a special letter to appear in your mailbox, embossed with the name of a publisher, or for a special someone to appear at your door, pizza box and ring in hand. Bad day at the office be damned!

Sometimes it's just something ominous that has been weighing on you being lifted that can make you say "Yes! There really IS a God!" One of my relatives had a renter file a lawsuit against her, claiming he'd hurt himself because she hadn't kept the house he was renting in good shape; she knew she was right but was looking at huge lawyer costs -- not to mention sleepless nights -- and then one day she heard that the lawsuit was history, that the renter had moved on -- with no forwarding address -- and that was that. She told me she un-corked some champagne that night that she'd had chilled since her wedding day. Or it can be the report from the doctor that says you don't have cancer. Or word from an abusive ex that he or she isn't going to pursue joint custody after all. It can be anything, as long as it lets you -- finally -- off the hook! At least for now.

But are there even simpler things that can make a difference in how you feel on any given day? You bet! A smile from a cashier who has always seemed cold to you. The thanks you get from a neighbor for throwing their newspapers onto their porch while they were away and forgot to cancel: too many papers in the driveway tells thieves that no one is at home. The first tulip of spring. A bird singing outside your window. (Okay, let's not get maudlin.) How about the thanks someone gave you for helping him get unstuck during a recent blizzard? Or if you live where there are no blizzards, how about the time you called 911 to rescue someone from a flood? If even those are too extreme, how about when you agreed, at the last minute, to bring thawed shrimp, patted down and dry, to the neighborhood party, along with cocktail sauce. And when you got there, everyone was singing your praises! For what? Hey, who cares? They love you.

It may just be a gesture. It may be a smile or a hug. Or a word, said just the right way. But almost anything can turn a day around.

You just have to watch for it. And wait for it. The clock is ticking. The day is almost done. Always look back over your day to see if there is something you might have missed.

And don't forget that you can sometimes make someone's day yourself. It doesn't take much.

Wait! Is that your phone ringing? It's so late. For God Sake, answer it!

This may be the call that makes your day.