One genuine smile at a time.
My attitude towards life has taken a positive turn. I have to credit Kim, my spiritual counselor, with at least getting me pointed in a better direction. It is sad to think of all the negative baggage I was carrying around & how that probably affected people around me. In this instance, I don't mean the people I knew by name, but the people I passed in my daily travels. Now, I rarely have to remind myself to be "soft eyed."
I have just been amazed at how eye contact and a genuine smile affects people. Remember I work in an environment that is not always full of cheerful souls. I go in and out of the metal detectors with victims, lawyers, defendants, and assorted people who are down on their luck or mixed up with the law in some way. (Actually I might hold back that genuine smile on some of those lawyers, but I guess I had better work on that too.)
One of the Sheriff's deputies calls me "smiley." The thing is, he wouldn't have been able to do that a year or so ago. It wasn't that I was not happy, but more that I didn't know how smiling would make me feel better and that other people like my smiles and to be acknowledged.
During the week a line forms at the basement door to the Old Courthouse. (Right before 8:30 when probation opens and right around 1:00 after lunch.) It is a diverse group. Babies in strollers with a Mom or a Dad, young women, older men and all different sizes are waiting for the door to open so they can go pee in a cup to prove that they have made it another portion of their lives without taking drugs. They are a tricky lot when it comes to smiles. Most don't really want to make eye contact, much less acknowledge a smile. So daily I need to excuse my way through the line to head home for lunch and it gives me opportunity to touch another person with a smile.
I guess the point of all of this is that I no longer underestimate the value of a genuine smile shared with the people I pass each day.
I have just been amazed at how eye contact and a genuine smile affects people. Remember I work in an environment that is not always full of cheerful souls. I go in and out of the metal detectors with victims, lawyers, defendants, and assorted people who are down on their luck or mixed up with the law in some way. (Actually I might hold back that genuine smile on some of those lawyers, but I guess I had better work on that too.)
One of the Sheriff's deputies calls me "smiley." The thing is, he wouldn't have been able to do that a year or so ago. It wasn't that I was not happy, but more that I didn't know how smiling would make me feel better and that other people like my smiles and to be acknowledged.
During the week a line forms at the basement door to the Old Courthouse. (Right before 8:30 when probation opens and right around 1:00 after lunch.) It is a diverse group. Babies in strollers with a Mom or a Dad, young women, older men and all different sizes are waiting for the door to open so they can go pee in a cup to prove that they have made it another portion of their lives without taking drugs. They are a tricky lot when it comes to smiles. Most don't really want to make eye contact, much less acknowledge a smile. So daily I need to excuse my way through the line to head home for lunch and it gives me opportunity to touch another person with a smile.
I guess the point of all of this is that I no longer underestimate the value of a genuine smile shared with the people I pass each day.