Monday, April 15, 2013

One Word, Five Voices: Contagious

On the radio this morning, I heard doctors have proven that, like yawning, smiles are also contagious.

It's so true, isn't it? Think about the last time a baby gave you a two-toothed grin. You can't help but return that smile. Even the hardest of hearts can be melted by a beaming baby.
So what happens to us by the time we reach adulthood? We smile for the camera when someone says, "say cheese," but in our daily interactions, how often do we insert a smile?

A couple of years ago, the security guards at work changed from internal employees to an outsourced group. One of the new guards was a woman who never smiled. She barely even looked up to acknowledge the presence of the hundreds of employees walking by her every day. It made me miss the old guards who knew me by name, and always had a story, or at the very least, a smile to share as I walked in every day. As time went on, I didn't even look in her direction as I entered the building, because I knew I wasn't going to be greeted in a friendly way.

But then I decided to do a little experiment. I started looking her in the eye every day and saying, "good morning" with a smile. I got head nods at first, followed by eye contact, then smiles, and now, she says "good morning" some days before I even get the chance.

Because smiles aren't the only things that are contagious. Attitudes are contagious, kindness is contagious, love is contagious. And wouldn't the world be a very different place if we were spreading smiles and kindness and love instead of all that other crap that's contagious, like selfishness, greed and hate?

Let your smile be contagious today. Give a few out at work, at the grocery store on the way home, to your neighbor across the street, and especially to the "crankies" in your life. In the end, it changes you more than them.

Check out my friends' thoughts on the word "contagious" on their blogs: Shawn, Heather, Steph and Brian.

3 comments:

practicingresurrectionlife.com said...

Like!

Heather said...

Good one. Nice start. I smiled. :)

Lisa said...

So true! And love the sweet picture.