Lead With A Smile…

A smile is a curve that sets everything straight.  ~Phyllis Diller
 

You’ve decided that you are open to meeting someone and you’ve made your wish list known. The next step is to show the world that you are open to meeting someone. The two best ways to do that are to make eye contact and to smile. 

I work midday at an elementary school.  I am a teacher’s aide and I spend lunch hours with about 570 children.  I like all of the students, but there are quite a few special kids that greet me with a big smile each day.  I feel those smiles and appreciate them each day.  Kids seem to instinctively know how to attract friends. They are open and warm. They grab the hand of the child next to them and say, “Lets go………” They are fairly fearless. 

As adults, we learn to put up walls. We learn to be guarded and private and it’s never as easy to make friends once we walk off campus that last time.  Think back to high school. As awkward as it could be, it was often easier to meet kids, to develop a crush, than it is as an adult. Just being around all those peers, having access to so many fellow humans in a similar stage of life, it made a difference. Of course, we were teens then and teens aren’t wired to appreciate what they have, unfortunately. 

I’m going to issue you a challenge.  I challenge you to make eye contact and smile at least 5 new people today.  Try for 10, if possible, but shine that smile of yours on at least 5. 

Here’s what I think will happen, that smile will be contagious.  The person you smiled at, they are going to take that on, internalize that warmth you shared, and they are going to, in turn, shine it back at someone else. I could be wrong, there are some true curmudgeons out there, but that is probably not the kind of person we are hoping to attract anyway. Right? 

Sharing something positive, it’s going to make you feel good, it’s going to increase your confidence. This is a small step, I know, but maybe baby stepping it is the true path to success. It’s the small changes that you can easily make a regular part of your day. 

Give it a try and let me know what happens. Good or bad, I’m curious and if you’ve got a challenge for me, let me know. I’m game for pretty much any sort of self-improvement. I’m not fully formed yet, still a work in progress. How about you? 

Image credit: Michelle Smith