A guest post from Gene-Manuel.
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Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.” – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
I was inspired to write this, when after a long day at one of my dayjobs, I was faced with the commute home. I had a bit of an attitude just thinking about what was ahead of me, since it’s usually not the most pleasant of experiences . . . like, EVER! Anyway, there I was giving it possibly too much thought as I was walking towards the E train when I happened to look to the side and notice the young woman that was walking my way. She had the brightest of smiles, and it was directed at me. So, I smiled back . . . and then it happened . . . an IAA – INSTANT ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT! Her sweet smile made me feel so good that I immediately felt better . . . I went down to the train, waited patiently and raced uptown barely noticing the cramped subway car.
I then wanted to give a smile back . . . as I walked upstairs from the train I saw this older couple coming my way. The woman was elegantly dressed with lovely gray hair, up in a bun . . . She was holding on to her partner and walking slow . . . as I approached, she looked my way with a tentative smile . . . I took that as my opportunity to give her a full-fledged smile back . . . instantly, her eyes lit up and her smile widened to reveal a beautiful set of pearly whites . . . Wow! Further IAA for sure!
Needless to say I then waited close to 40 minutes for a bus to go home, standing next to smelly garbage . . . It wasn’t until I texted my whereabouts to my friend Paula of The Daily OWN that I realized I had been standing there . . . for almost 40 minutes . . . in not the most pleasant of circumstances . . . without complaining, not even really aware of it . . . just patiently waiting . . .
I really think those smiles were the ones that helped me through it . . . Those two ladies are most definitely not aware of what they did for me by simply being so kind and generous with their smiles. They helped me turn my entire attitude around and as a result, I was able to stay in a good frame of mind during that commute. One simple gesture . . . did so much.
I encourage us all to be as generous as we can with our smiles today and every day. It is a great gift that we can give to others and the benefits are immeasurable. One smile. One loving gesture. One heartfelt “Hello, how are you?” Anything that can possibly bring some light into someone else’s life, has incredible power . . . Let’s be kind, compassionate and remember to SMILE! It costs nothing and is worth a million bucks!
Gene-Manuel is a Spiritual Pop Artist (gene-manuelart.com) and writer devoted to the pursuit of creative expression in all areas of life. He is the Editor and Founder of The Whirling Blog and Daily ♥ Reminders.
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