“Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.” - Mother Teresa
Mornings can be tough for me, especially since others around me usually are stressed, which rubs off onto me. Despite my efforts to remain patient, I still get irked a little by the time I get to work. I feel like it's such a waste to start the day on the wrong foot because it takes more effort to regain positive footing in my head.
Luckily, I was saved by an angel in the parking lot. As I was walking towards the elevators in our garage, I saw a lady standing outside of her car using one of those sticky rollers to pull off lint and hair off of herself before going into the office. She saw me looking and gave me a sheepish and genuine smile almost saying, "Yea, I'm a little embarrassed that you saw me, but it's the first day back from a long weekend and I don't care." I smiled back and felt much better about the morning.
A smile is a natural and simple expression of pleasure and it's something that means the same thing among all cultures and all times. It's one of the most basic and universal forms of communication that even babies are able to communicate with adults. It's this universality of smiles that makes it a perfect way for a person to express a connection with another person. Subsequently, a smile fills one of the basic needs of humanity, which is the sense of connection. Humans are naturally social beings and in order to feel fulfilled, must have connections with other humans.
Giving someone a smile, then, is a simple way to meet someone's need for connection. The great thing is that it costs very little for the giver and the reward for the recipient is greater than the effort to smile.
As it stands today, I am in debt to give a stranger a genuine smile today. Maybe I'll smile a bit more to put in extra karma to save me from another dreary morning in the future.
Related Reading:
How to Create Positive Emotions
32 Ways to Make Someone Happy Today
5 Reasons Why You Should Smile More
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