One of my favorite mantras is ‘My Resting Face is a Smiling Face’. I find that keeping a smile on my countenance brightens my mood and helps keep my energy level up. We tend to think actions follow emotions yet there is much evidence that the causation goes both ways; actions can create and powerfully impact emotions.
There is a wonderful side benefit as well: when I walk around with a wide breezy grin on my face, I get lots of friendly, cheerful smiles back which I find most uplifting. Which brings me to acts of microkindnesses: letting someone go first in traffic, holding a door, noticing and commending someone’s extra effort, picking up litter… anything that makes the world a better place, anything that tells another human that they matter, that they are worthy of notice.
They are but brief moments yet they create warmth and feelings of belonging and connection and their cumulative impact is immense. Attitudes are contagious, please make sure yours is worth catching and above all, remain aware of the emotional wake you create.
Closing Quotes:
“Smile, it’s free therapy.” – Douglas Horton
“Use your smile to change the world; don’t let the world change your smile.” – Chinese Proverb
“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” – Desmond Tutu
“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
“That best portion of a good man’s life, his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love.” – William Wordsworth, Tintern Abbey
As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier
Note: Every effort has been made to properly source any 3rd person material. I am, however, a voracious reader. If anyone finds any unattributed material, pls let me know asap and I will be delighted to give credit where credit is due.
“All intelligent thoughts have already been thought; what is necessary is only to try to think them again.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832
