Oh when you’re smilin’ keep on smilin’, The whole world smiles with you – Louis Armstrong
How do you find your happiness from within? Make others happy! As a wise friend of mine says “leave everyone a little better than how you found them”, what an easier way to do that than to smile as you pass someone on your journey.
We are born to connect with every living thing on this giant rock we call earth. Most of our connections are merely subliminal and subtle. A simple smile as you pass someone on the street can mean the difference between a bad day and a good day for that someone. Merely acknowledging their existence with a smile and a nod can disrupt negative thoughts that may be running through that person’s head, enough so, that they may skip a thought that may lead them to do something drastic.
I know I am guilty many times of not walking with a smile. Rushing to get to my next stop on the journey of life, I disregard the existence of anyone around me but myself. While I can help it, I don’t. I am too narrow-minded to just take in the moment and admire the souls that make up my life. While I may not know them, in a split second, a smile to that person and getting a smile back is enough to ground my very existence. There is more to my reality than just me, connecting with everyone I can if even an exchange of smiles is enough to give me presence and the understanding that I am not alone on this planet; and neither are they.
Life is so fragile. We all need each other to get to the next day, so why not pay everyone you pass with a little kindness? It is scientifically known that smiling increases the production of all of the happiness hormones. We become happier when we smile and we make others happy when we are smiling. Heck, smiling is contagious! So, if even you can’t smile all that great, practice and fake it until you make it! Our happiness and the happiness of our world is counting on us to smile and spread the happiness all over town as you are walking to your next step on your journey of life.
X-XC
This blog post is part of a series of 26 that focuses on finding your inner happiness. Please check out the rest of the series here: The ABC’s of a Happy Life