Smile
You ever have one of those days?
Whatever context you would like to infer to the above sentence, this feels like the opposite. Usually that question assumes a negative connotation. You know, the days where nothing seems to go right? Not the case. Everything fell into place exactly as it was suppose to.
I have been noticing this happen much more frequently than it ever has before. There is no way to put a finger on it, but I seem to run into the optimistic cashier, the cheerful parking attendant, or the affable barber everywhere I go now. There seems to just be happy people in my life every direction I turn. This does not feel like an accident. Because I have been a much happier person in the last few weeks, and because of that, I get happy people in return.
You get what you give. And if you give happiness, guess what’s coming right back atcha? Sure, my back hurts almost 100% of the day, but pain is something I have been dealing with for long past ten thousand hours, so by the traditional definition, I am a master. As a master of dealing with pain, you come up with some strange tactics of controlling your frustrations. Making people laugh is by far my favorite. Secondly would be to treat the pain as something that feels good. A bit masochistic I know, but effective nonetheless. So pain in check, I am able to go about my days dealing with the people I run into with the utmost levels of happiness.
I was in the pharmacy picking up some medicine and mentioned to the girl behind the counter how empty the “X” bin of pick ups was (they sort the medicine by the first letter of your last name). She laughed and said she hadn’t seen too many Mr. or Mrs. Xylophones come in to pick up their prescriptions. When the time came to sign the digital screen in front of me, I felt that there was really only one thing to do. I put one bold diagonal line down across from corner to corner, and then crossed it as though I was marking the spot. After hitting accept I joyfully watched a smile begin to curve across her face. She started laughing and said that she really appreciated what I did there. I said I was trying to be a voice for the Mr. X’s everywhere, as well as an homage to the opening scene of Blues Brothers where Jim Belushi’s character signs his name with an X to receive his belongings on the way out of prison. She said it had been a long day there and this was exactly what she needed.
You never know what someone else is experiencing in their life. And this goes for every single person you come into contact with. Whether you know them or not, they are a human being, just like you and me, and they have struggles just like we do. If you don’t treat them with the same respect that you treat yourself, how do you treat them? Life is just more fun when you treat the people around you positively. Try to get yourself to smile next time you interact with another human, I bet they end up smiling back.