A Simple Smile
Some years ago, after moving my office into a new building, I could not help but notice when walking down the communal corridors just how miserable some of the others occupants of the building looked. It made the place seem unfriendly and uninviting. Everyone seemed to be in their own little world: isolated and without joy.
Whether or not they had joy in their lives was irrelevant. Their demeanor seemed to give-out an air of unhappiness permeated those corridors.
In light of this, I decided to try an experiment.
I decided that each time I saw someone coming my way in the office building, particularly if they looked glum or miserable, I would try to make eye contact with them, smile, and say, “Good morning” or “Hi. How are you?”
Whenever I did this, I was consistently astounded by how the faces of those people lit up and broke out into a smile. It was almost like a little miracle. Miserable-looking faces suddenly became pictures of happiness just because someone, who they didn’t know, took the trouble to smile at them and greet them.
It seemed to work wonders for so many of them. It clearly made them feel better and I saw, overtime, that it seemed to greatly improve the atmosphere in the whole building.
I am now a firm believer that the simple smile of just one person can help to improve the lives of so many others.
Go on! Give it a try. Create your own little miracle. It will also make you feel better.
