For this week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, Linda G. Hill has asked us to use the term “life hack.”

Richard loved life hacks. He knew how to peel garlic in seconds, fold fitted sheets like a pro, and turn a cluttered drawer into a miracle of order with a few cardboard dividers. He regularly scanned Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and other social media sites for new life hacks to make his life simpler. His phone brimmed with shortcuts for everything, except for things that really mattered.

Each morning, the news poured in like a slow leak he couldn’t patch. Arguments over politics, fractures over religion, endless wars, numerous incidents of people hurting one another. Richard searched for a trick, a clever workaround, a simple fix. “Three steps to solve division and divisiveness,” he muttered once, half-laughing.

But no clever, helpful videos came.

One evening, he tried something new. He listened instead of arguing. He asked questions he didn’t already have answers to. He admitted to uncertainty.

It wasn’t fast. It wasn’t tidy. It didn’t fit in a caption or a tagline.

Still, something within him shifted — just a little.

Richard realized the only meaningful “hacks” were patience, tolerance, and understanding.

And none of those came with instructions.