Be the Reason Somebody Smiles Today

Today give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.
                                                                                          -H. Jackson Brown, Jr: a voice who smiled

Smiles are the most undervalued thing in the world. They change lives. In the words of Maya Angelou, "People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." People will hold on to your smile. I like to think that when I give a stranger a smile I set off a chain of events making the whole world happier. It's a little delusional, I admit.

Sometimes, in the evening, before dinner, I leave the house. I walk. It's nothing particularly interesting. It's peaceful though. I see people I know, people I don't. I've made an effort to smile at everyone.

When you go do school, or went, did you cross the street? Usually in the public school system there's a crossing guard. I've always made an effort to wish them a good morning. Nobody else ever does. So I smile at them, and they smile back, and we talk. I'd ask how they are and they'd ask me and then we would wish one another a nice day. It wasn't rehearsed. We genuinely want to know how the other was doing, or I least that was the case with me. I feel happier when I'm smiled at, and I feel happier when my smiles are returned.

I've had a problem with eye contact. You know when you glance across a room and there's somebody who's doing the same. You make brief eye contact. You both pretend you didn't see the other. It happens all the time and it's not a big deal. Except, if instead of glancing away, you hold their gaze, you smile, that's a big deal. It's a small gesture, but it gives them- a little warm feeling in their chest that makes them want to smile back. If they return the gesture than they in turn make you have the warm smiley feeling and you both have a smile you can't get rid of.

Wouldn't the world and everyone in it be better if we woke up each morning and said to ourselves, "I'm going to be the reason somebody smiles today." I wish people could get up with the intention to go outside and just smile until the world smiles back. I wish people would say that for every reason they have to cry, there's a thousand reasons to smile. It's true. For every tear you shed, there's a smile available. And you shouldn't wear a frown until you are absolutely sure their are no smiles left.

Of course it's okay to be unhappy. You don't have to smile through your whole life. If you never cry you won't notice that smiley feeling. 

Smiling changes our day. When writing this, I smiled. I'm still smiling. I want to make other people smile. Our faces can change to express many different things. Turning up the corners of our mouths, getting little crinkles around our eyes, it's oddly enough the most important expression. And when you need a reason to smile., the thing at the top of the list is that you can. You can smile and keep smiling until you go to sleep. Then you can spread your bright smile into your dream world. Then, you can wake up and go make others smile.

Be the reason somebody smiles today.

:)