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‘Wait… This Is Wholesome’: 50 Memes To Brighten Your Mood And Restore Your Faith In Humanity
Even the most optimistic person feels blue and overwhelmed at times—sadness and stress are natural parts of life. However, so is joy. And it helps to remember that the world can be a pretty magnificent and magical place if you ever find yourself going through extremely tough challenges, one after another.
And that’s where the popular ‘Wait… This Is Wholesome’ Facebook group comes in. Created just two years ago, the online community has grown by leaps and bounds thanks to the extremely heartwarming content its members post. We’ve collected their most wholesome memes to brighten up your day, Pandas. Scroll down, upvote your faves, and remember to spread the joy—someone in your social circle might need the mood boost today!
Bored Panda reached out to the founder of the ‘Wait… This Is Wholesome’ Facebook group, Hamza Saeed, and he was kind enough to share the inspiration behind it. We also wanted to learn about the effects that looking at wholesome memes has on our moods, so we reached out to Glenn Geher, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at the State University of New York at New Paltz and a published author. You'll find both of Bored Panda's interviews below.
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"Uplifting, positive stimuli of any kind have the capacity to improve people’s moods," Dr. Geher told Bored Panda via email.
"The questions of (a) just how much and (b) for how long depend on several factors. For instance, some people tend to be dispositionally more prone than others are to negative moods. Such individuals are likely less likely to experience large and long-term benefits from positive, heartwarming stimuli," he explained.
"Others, who tend to score higher in traits such as emotional stability, emotional intelligence, and emotional regulation, are likely to more genuinely and deeply be positively touched by even simple uplifting stimuli such as cute or heartwarming memes that are found on the internet."
He added: "Personally, I cannot get enough of cute-kitten internet posts—which I regularly share with my daughter!" And we're in the same boat—if we come across a particularly adorable or witty animal meme, we make sure to send it to the people we care about.
Dr. Geher was also kind enough to tell us more about the negativity response bias. According to him, it's "a powerful and ubiquitous human emotional phenomenon."
"In short, we tend to pay attention more to negative than to positive stimuli and we tend to remember negatively valenced stimuli and experiences more so than is the case for more positive stimuli and experiences," the professor said.
Okay I am gonna need that recipe too. This guy waited until he was grown to be able to track it down.. it must be good!
"From an evolutionary perspective, this all makes sense as our ancestors who were emotionally vigilant (and biased toward negativity) were more likely to effectively deal with genuine threats in their environments," he told Bored Panda.
"The downside to this bias, of course, is the fact that people who should, on the surface, be authentically happy for a variety of reasons may often feel any number of negative emotions. Heartwarming, positive, uplifting stimuli may well have the capacity to offset this deeply entrenched bias—even if for brief spits of time."
Bored Panda was very curious to find out about the inspiration behind the ‘Wait… This Is Wholesome’ Facebook group. Hamza, the founder of this online community, was happy to shed some light on this.
"I made this group for people so that everyone can share their wholesome daily thoughts and incidents," Hamza told us via Facebook.
He explained that his goal was to create a place where "people can get motivation" in order to "stay positive" in their day-to-day lives. Hamza believes that people can stay optimistic by looking at the memes shared on ‘Wait… This Is Wholesome.'
This isn't the only social media group that Hamza has founded. He's also the creator of 'Female Club,' a Facebook group with 1.2 million members.
Research shows that memes can have a positive impact on our moods. Penn State University found that viewing memes on the internet can increase positive emotions and, as a result, improve our confidence.
At the time of writing, the ‘Wait… This Is Wholesome’ collective was nearly 407k members strong. The popularity of the group is a testament to the efforts of its founders and the quality of its memes.
After all, the group was established just over two years ago, back in June 2021, and it has gained a massive following this quickly. Last week alone, over 6k new members joined the community. And in just the last month, folks have shared nearly 900 memes in the feed.
Though a wholesome and witty meme might not automatically solve all of your problems in life, it can serve as a fun little distraction for a while.
Not only that, heartwarming and funny memes can give us a fresh new perspective on life and can act as reminders that not everything is all doom and gloom—there’s plenty of happiness and nuance to be found in life if only we know where to look for it… and remember to focus on all aspects of life, not just negative ones.
Absolutely me. I am not even remotely kidding when I say that I'd rather burn to death in a fire while saving my cats, than abandon them. So far we've had evacuation warnings that have given us time to get out when we've had fire issues here (I'm in California... our seasons are earthquake, fire, flood, and drought lol) I'm a "hope for the best but plan for the worst" person, so my cats know that if scary stuff happens they run to their carriers, especially if I yell "go time!" (can you tell we've done this before?) BUT if there ever comes a day where I have to choose between saving them and saving myself... it's 100% them. My life is sorta sh!t anyway, and I know that my family will gladly care of them. So yeah. I'd go down in a fire to save them...without a moment of hesitation.
Same here. My greatest fear is my house burning down and my 8 cats being trapped inside. I know I’d never be able to save them all. But I’d die trying!
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There's an old philosophical question that goes something like, if there was a fire at the Louvre, and you could save EITHER the Mona Lisa OR a cat that wandered into the museum, which would you save? I would save the cat, because the cat is life. Sorry art lovers, but the Mona Lisa, while a great painting and a great shame to lose, is only dead paint on dead canvas, not life. Mona won't suffered being burned to a crisp. The cat would suffer greatly. Save the cat.
He is fine now. People built him a new home. And he lives with his cat happily :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eou3k3DEoQU
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yep, we are both crying. This story gets me every time!
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What CPooh said. He needed a hug not to be photographed in such a distressing and heartbreaking moment.
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I understand we evacuated three times from hurricanes including Katrina and we always took kitties with us. We were fortunate enough not lose anything but couldn't leave fur babies behind.
That is the face of a man and a cat who just watched their home go down in flames, all their possessions get destroyed 😢 but they’ve still got each other ❤️
We have an evacuation plan, we get tornado warnings here. Cat goes in her carrier on command (I know, very dog like) the other part is getting 7 guinea pigs safely moved - we have 2 cardboard boxes with blankets, food in a ziplock bag, in the pantry. The trick is getting 7 greased pigs out of their cage quickly, but we're working on it. I would never leave them behind, I would risk my life all 8 times.
He is fine now. People built him a new home. And he lives with his cat happily :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eou3k3DEoQU
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Me too. If the place we live ever catches fire, my wife will be scrambling to save the two cats and I will be scrambling to save her and the cats.
God bless you, sir. Your life is not s**t, because you have YOU, who is clearly a wonderful person and that’s a helluva lot more than some people have and your cats would agree as well. You’re their hero and a lot of other people’s just by you being you.
This breaks my heart every time I see it, first few weeks of Putler's attack on Ukraine, I hope the old boy and his kitten are OK, one fears there was a cat and more kittens though, it's still quite young . . . ¦-(
This man's face is breaking my heart, but the love for his cat is making me smile and I am so thankful they both were able to get out with their lives 🥰
This story really struck home. I had to find my two black and white cats in my apartment, in the dark, after the power went out because of a fire in the apartment next door, started by the maintenance man using a blow torch. I found one under my bed, and one in the walk in closet, and put them in their carriers. I got my coat (it was winter) and my purse, and ran out, leaving my door unlocked for firemen access. I never, never would have left them behind. I was unable to call 911, because I didn't have a cell phone, and my wall phone didn't work, because the wires had already burned. Someone else called though.
Is nobody going to mention that he's being photographed while relieving himself? This seems needlessly crass to me.
If you can retrieve your mind out of the gutter, you'll see that this poor man is holding his cat with one hand, and a CANE with the other.
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We had a few brush fires that came with evac orders. every one 2 and 4 legged has a go bag.
I just called Bouche to give her some love. She was kind enough to allow it.
When you live in wildfire country you learn what's important. My first evac I was running around like a chicken with its head off. Couldn't think what to take. After that I evac anything with a pulse first and their needs. And my dirty laundry. It has a good mix of stuff. my meds. Then I leave. Once those things are at a safe place, and if I can, I would go back to get other things that might be a pain to replace.
Little does he know that the cat started the fire because he was 3 minutes late feeding her.
As we’ve covered on Bored Panda before, negativity bias plays an important role in people’s lives. Human beings, generally, tend to be hard-wired to focus more on negative rather than positive information.
Negativity bias might, for instance, take the form of obsessing over someone’s constructive feedback or criticism that we got, while (almost) completely ignoring all the compliments we might have gotten. Or it might look like us thinking about all the negative things we heard and read in the news far more than the positive fluff stories. In short, people tend to think about all the bad stuff that’s going on and focus on flaws.
However, Oxford University's Reuters Institute recently found that more and more people are switching off negative news: only 48% of people are interested in the news, globally, down from 63% in 2017.
Taking the time to slow down and notice all the good things around us can work as an antidote to all the negativity we’re exposed to in our daily lives.
Practice gratitude, keep a journal, and constantly remind yourself that there are genuine things to be thankful for, even when you’re exhausted and down. These small reminders can give you the energy and motivation to get through tough times at work, school, and home.
Even something as simple as recognizing that you have a roof over your head and food on your table is important. However, gratitude alone won’t solve all of your issues either. If you do have genuine problems in life, it helps to be thankful for what you do have, but at the same time, you have to take decisive action to improve your situation. Whether it’s focusing on your finances, health, social life, or something else entirely.
Previously, Bored Panda spoke to writer Ariane Sherine, the author of ‘How to Live to 100’ about living a happy, healthy, and fulfilling life.
“Close, fulfilling relationships with others are one of the most important things when it comes to happiness, whether romantic or platonic. Studies show that the more close friendships and relationships you have, the longer you live,” she explained to us during an earlier interview.
This! Teachers, first responders, researchers, etc, all need to have salaries swapped with sports. $150m for one person to hit a ball, when someone else was just wrist deep in someone’s chest to keep them alive after a car crash… We need a bit of perspective.
“Volunteering and helping others are also likely to make you happy,” she said, adding that other factors that contribute to our happiness are having a fulfilling career, being physically fit, and focusing on things other than just material possessions (no matter how shiny and cool they might be!).
“There are other things that contribute to happiness and well-being including taking regular exercise, eating healthily, having enough money to feel comfortable, having job security, and enjoying experiences rather than possessions,” the author of ‘How to Live to 100’ said.
“Self-care and taking time for yourself are also very important. But I'd say close relationships are probably the most essential things to happiness.” She pointed out that it’s also vital to get plenty of proper rest. “If you're feeling really lethargic and low, the best thing is probably to sleep, or at least rest.”
Helping others out even when we’re down in the dumps can work wonders not just for our own mood but also for the community. Altruism works on both selfish and selfless levels.
“It's worth remembering that being kind to others can also lift you up too. In fact, the easiest way to take your mind off your own problems is to help someone else with theirs,” Ariane told Bored Panda before.
Happiness, according to the writer comes from “doing what you can to make your own situation better, and then accepting that you can't control everything. You can never control everything, and trying will make you even more anxious. But you can control certain things to reduce your risk.”
Which of these memes made you smile the most? Were there any that restored (a bit of) your faith in humanity? Which memes would you send your friends if you thought they needed more wholesomeness in their lives? Swing by the comment section at the bottom of the article and share your thoughts!
For some more adorably wholesome memes, take a peek at Bored Panda's list right here.
My mom came home once to find that her border collie had herded fifty ducks into the house through the doggie door. We warned her they invent jobs to do!
I'd like to make a note that for the last 30ish years "Steve" has always been the name my friends and I call anyone that we can't remember their name.... or we just don't know. Doesn't matter their gender... they're Steve. Referring to a random person talks to you. Steve. Person that recognizes you from high school but you have no idea who they are, Steve. Any odd object you need to refer to, Steve. I call my roomba Steve. (Technically it's Stephen Sweeperman but that's a side note here lol) my point is this... everyone is Steve until they are not Steve.
Note: this post originally had 133 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
This! We need more of this! I even looked at the Facebook page to see more Wholesome and I normally look at Facebook approximately once a year.
Or they'd slap the word 'core' on every name like shortvegetariancore
This helped with my depressive episode. Really. So did the Dan Reynolds videos I watched.
I can feel my face turned up into a smile. It'll be there a long time remembering these lovely stories.
I am seriously struggling to drink my coffee because of the lump in throat... Just proves the world isn't such a shhocking place...
This! We need more of this! I even looked at the Facebook page to see more Wholesome and I normally look at Facebook approximately once a year.
Or they'd slap the word 'core' on every name like shortvegetariancore
This helped with my depressive episode. Really. So did the Dan Reynolds videos I watched.
I can feel my face turned up into a smile. It'll be there a long time remembering these lovely stories.
I am seriously struggling to drink my coffee because of the lump in throat... Just proves the world isn't such a shhocking place...
