Happiness is a warm puppy.

This bit of wisdom from Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz was embraced Tuesday night by an increasingly frazzled American electorate seeking a refuge from potentially catastrophic news. One by one as the polls closed and states were called, anxiety began to rise. Would my candidate win? Were the polls misleading? Will I have to live in an America where I feel unsafe?

Unfortunately, Steve Kornacki and his many manila folders were not immediately forthcoming with answers, and so we turned to friends, family and online communities for reassurance. Eventually, we heard whispers of a respite from all the stats, an oasis of peace:

"The Calm app IG page is [livestreaming] puppies playing if you need a moment away from election anxiety," posted TV host Nina Parker on X.

Sure enough, puppies rompin' and chompin', cruisin' and snoozin' filled the screen. "Paws and take a look!" read the Calm caption. "We're live with some fur-ever friends looking for homes."

Puppies were living their best puppy lives, blissfully unaware of any political upheaval. It was a welcome break from the growing unease of watching election results come in. Apparently, Calm isn't just meditations and Sleep Stories. It's also puppies.

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Salon spoke with a Calm spokesperson about the puppy livestream, along with their "30 seconds of silence" ad that played Tuesday night and other initiatives to combat politically induced anxiety:

Could you walk me through the origin of the livestreamed puppies concept? Who are the puppies? Someone's pets? Rescues?

Our goal was to create a calming corner of the internet through our Instagram Live. We streamed soothing sights of wildlife such as penguins and meerkats at the San Diego Zoo while the polls were still open. And as the polls closed, we followed that up with a stream of cuddly adoptable puppies from Hit Living Dog Rescue. This plan was grounded in research which shows that watching cute animals may reduce anxiety.

What........

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