How often do you SMILE?

I love to smile. I really do. And I try to do it as often as possible. I would much rather be seen by others with a smile on my face, than seen as a cranky lady with a frown. A dear friend of mine recently wrote in her blog the importance of smiling . Peggy put it so well (Thanks PK!) that "Smiles are gifts you give to others that don't cost you a thing. Yet when you take the time to think about it, you get the same feeling of satisfaction as you would if you gave them a nicely wrapped gift."

Today I was driving in a parking lot and came to that awkward moment when my car met up with another car (it was a big truck, actually). I was in no hurry, so I waved the truck on to cross in front of me. The driver of the truck was a man, probably in his late 50’s. He looked a little rough and tumbled, with a worn out baseball hat on his head and dust all over his car. I was so surprised when he looked at me . . . and smiled. Not just any smile – a really wonderful friendly “Hey, thanks for letting me go first, you good looking lady!” kind of smile (alright, you got me. I threw in the "good looking lady" part.) But it was a genuine smile sent with warmth and kindness, with thought. As he drove pass me, I realized that I was smiling too. I don’t know who started smiling first, but what I do know is that here, in this brief moment, we both felt good.

How many times do we avoid making eye contact with a perfect stranger? Why would we rather look down at the ground when walking pass someone, than up into their eyes? Seriously, is there really something on the ground we would rather see?

Today, let’s try to do something different. Let’s connect with each other – even if we don’t know each other. Today I challenge you to share your smile. I promise – it will make you feel good inside and you never know when your smile may make the difference in someone else’s day.