Someone js waiting for you. They’re waiting for your smile. They’re waiting for a warm greeting. They’re waiting to discover that the space they’re in is safe. We can give this to each other. All we have to do is lose a bit of ourselves and make room for someone else. It’s a game changer.
A smile is the same as sunshine; it banishes winter from the human countenance. ~ Victor Hugo
The best things in life can never be kept;
They must be given away.
A Smile, a Kiss, and Love ~ Robert Browning
I don’t get it. Why don’t more folks choose to be happy? There are so many things around us that make me smile. I saw men and women dancing in a zumba class this morning. There were having a great time moving to the music. They made me smile. A daughter called while I was eating lunch. Not a problem, lunch can always wait. We had a great conversation. I saw two squirrels chasing each other in circles in my yard – that’s got to make you smile. It feels good to be happy, to look on the bright side. I’m not traveling down the tunnel of doom.
(_Prologue to “The Two Poets of Croisic.”_)
Such a starved bank of moss
Till, that May-morn,
Blue ran the flash across:
Violets were born!
Sky–what a scowl of cloud
Till, near and far,
Ray on ray split the shroud:
Splendid, a star!
World–how it walled about
Life with disgrace,
Till God’s own smile came out:
That was thy face!
“It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living.” ― F. Scott Fitzgerald
I’m not sure if we’re losing the ability to smile. Maybe we’re so fearful and distrustful of each other that we think smiling is a sign of weakness. Most people I see are in a rush to get to somewhere, talking on their smart phones and gesturing with their free hand. They walk purposefully with a game face on that says “don’t mess with me.” Smiling is a simple gesture that sends a text message from the heart to a momentary encounter with another person. A warm smile lets someone know the world is a friendly place. It lets the other person know that someone (the person offering the smile) recognizes they (the person receiving the smile) exists. The person offering the smile receives as much benefit as the person receiving the smile.
What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. ~ George Eliot
