Inspired by the film Patch Adams starring Robin Williams, I did a little experiment.
I tried smiling and saying hello to people.
The results were that there are more people willing to smile and say hello back, even during these tough times.
For most of my life, from childhood up until recently, I’ve kind of felt inadequate as a human being. I thought I didn’t count. I thought if I smiled at someone they’d not smile back and that would reinforce the negative self image.
As we arrive at the end of another year, I’d like to invite you all to do the same. Smile at people, make them feel good. The reward is you will feel better about yourself. This is by far the best thing I’ve learned all year.
For me, little things like this are great therapy. They draw you out of your mind, where all too often you dwell on all your problems and wonder how you’re going to fix them.
Worrying doesn’t solve it.
What I’ve learned is if you calibrate your mind to be in a positive mood, you’ll have more energy to overcome the difficult things more easily.
You’ve got to make room for positivity in your mind.
This newfound knowledge has served me well. I’ve struck up a brief conversation with a Tesco employee who I was sure hated me. I’ve become more present. Now I can speak to people and I’m more in the moment, more able to be spontaneous and I have a much better relationship with myself; my mind works more in unison with the external world.
Of course, this is just my experience and may or may not work for other people, but sometimes we all just need a little push in the right direction. I hope this helps someone.