Some days smiling can be harder than others, but it makes everything better, and that's a promise.
"Smile" by Nat King Cole
Basically it all boils down to: You've got to be kind, damnit (Wise and true words, semi-inspired by hard times and Kurt Vonnegut). No matter what you've got going on giving you a bad mood, someone else's situation could be a hundred times worse. Life is hard sometimes, for everybody, and that's why we've got to help each other through it. Pass a smile or a high five. Tag it and pass it, change it up like you're playing Telephone. Shake it loose. Man, sometimes even that can be hard though, especially if you're stuck in another moment, stewing, rather than being present in the one actually taking place. Wild. There are times for reflecting of course, but when encountering another person, a recognition of self can go along way in making someone's day.
I've been thinking a lot about... well, everything, and nothing - a plethora of thoughts swirling in my head. This job is wonderful, but emotionally exhausting (as well as physically) more days than not. Sometimes I don't feel like smiling, but that's kind of out of the option when I'm getting paid to smile and ensure that guests are having a super-duper-awesome-fantastic-best-ever-vacation time. If you know me, sometimes I get in moods... but only sometimes. A month or so ago I found a great way to get out of these moody moods, HIGH FIVES!! They're fun to get and they're even more fun to give! I especially love going for a family, hitting up the kids first and then going to the parents, after their initial shock and almost fear subsides they get really into it.
The first time I took high fives out of the resort was on a morning beach run a morning or 20 ago, and I don't know what happened, I just stuck my hand out there, gave a little smile, and BLAM! solid contact and a smile on the other side. Yeah! That felt pretty good! Here comes another person. So on and on it went like that, feeling good and high fiving, but then my run and exuberant energy got the best of me, and I started getting tired... unfortunately I looked ahead of me and saw a line of people coming my way that most likely saw me high fiving and helloing and I couldn't just give up on them. After about 15 minutes (maybe it was only seven, or two - sometimes I blackout) I finally came to an empty stretch of sand and I smiled for so many reasons.
I know smiling and high fives outside of a resort might not be the easiest/best thing to do, especially in a big, hardened city, but that's probably where friendliness is most needed (I'm talking to you, NYC, you know you have a bad rap from outsiders). Now, I'm not saying that you should run around making eye contact and high fiving every Jerry, Cindy and Sue you see, especially in those mobs on Michigan Avenue, but when you're walking down the street or through your place of employment, and it's just you and one other person (or a few people), please! I beg you, acknowledge them. Wouldn't you want the same done for you? I know there are days where you might be thinking that the world can shove its sunshine someplace dark, but maybe the person walking towards you is feeling the same way, so smile! Maybe you'll make a friend, and friends are usually fun, unless they always ask to borrow things without gratitude and without returning them - that's not so fun because then you feel like the bad guy for having to remind them multiple times that you really do need your inhaler back.
"Soak it Up" by Houses
So, I was journaling about smiling and passing it along on February 3rd, and then I went out for a run and as I was chugging up this hill - okay, break real fast, since when does Pandora put talking ads on their website? I'm not a fan of this, and in between every song!? Really. Is that necessary!? - I encountered the unhappiest people I've seen in a while; a couple walking strides apart, with the hardened dude in the front, and his sulky lady in the back. While these people probably needed a smile from a stranger more than anything, I was taken aback by their 'tudes and the hill was hitting me harder that day, and all I managed was a breathy "Hello!" to the lady, but too late to see her reaction. Yeah, so it's difficult sometimes to smile or say "Hey" because we're all in our own things, but it's nice to share a moment with a stranger, and I almost ran back to give a bigger smile, but then I thought that would probably be too weird and maybe seen as mocking like, "Oooh! I'm so happy because I'm running and I'm young and free, and you two are miserable because you're locked inside this loveless relationship." And who even knows if that's the case, maybe they were just arguing about baby names, and he wanted to name his first born son Alaster while she was not budging from Dwayne. I don't know, but I hope they're happy now.
Also that night, my mind reading iPod played "Fixing A Hole" for me, and it was perfect in that the Fab Four articulated everything I've been trying to wrap my head around for the past half a year and more:
My favorite line: And it really doesn't matter if I'm wrong, I'm right where I belong. So think about that, and smile, because while it can be hard and terrible and a definite struggle, life is beautiful and wonderful, and I'm here and you're here and let's have a happy moment for the brief time that our paths cross.
Your goal: smile, high five, hug, hold a door, be kind somehow to at least one stranger today. Do it! Try it! See what happens! It will most likely make you want to be kind to people all the time, or at least more often than not.
Another song I like that seems to fit the bill of today's post:
"Smoke and Mirrors" by RJD2
"Smile" by Nat King Cole
Basically it all boils down to: You've got to be kind, damnit (Wise and true words, semi-inspired by hard times and Kurt Vonnegut). No matter what you've got going on giving you a bad mood, someone else's situation could be a hundred times worse. Life is hard sometimes, for everybody, and that's why we've got to help each other through it. Pass a smile or a high five. Tag it and pass it, change it up like you're playing Telephone. Shake it loose. Man, sometimes even that can be hard though, especially if you're stuck in another moment, stewing, rather than being present in the one actually taking place. Wild. There are times for reflecting of course, but when encountering another person, a recognition of self can go along way in making someone's day.
I've been thinking a lot about... well, everything, and nothing - a plethora of thoughts swirling in my head. This job is wonderful, but emotionally exhausting (as well as physically) more days than not. Sometimes I don't feel like smiling, but that's kind of out of the option when I'm getting paid to smile and ensure that guests are having a super-duper-awesome-fantastic-best-ever-vacation time. If you know me, sometimes I get in moods... but only sometimes. A month or so ago I found a great way to get out of these moody moods, HIGH FIVES!! They're fun to get and they're even more fun to give! I especially love going for a family, hitting up the kids first and then going to the parents, after their initial shock and almost fear subsides they get really into it.
The first time I took high fives out of the resort was on a morning beach run a morning or 20 ago, and I don't know what happened, I just stuck my hand out there, gave a little smile, and BLAM! solid contact and a smile on the other side. Yeah! That felt pretty good! Here comes another person. So on and on it went like that, feeling good and high fiving, but then my run and exuberant energy got the best of me, and I started getting tired... unfortunately I looked ahead of me and saw a line of people coming my way that most likely saw me high fiving and helloing and I couldn't just give up on them. After about 15 minutes (maybe it was only seven, or two - sometimes I blackout) I finally came to an empty stretch of sand and I smiled for so many reasons.
I know smiling and high fives outside of a resort might not be the easiest/best thing to do, especially in a big, hardened city, but that's probably where friendliness is most needed (I'm talking to you, NYC, you know you have a bad rap from outsiders). Now, I'm not saying that you should run around making eye contact and high fiving every Jerry, Cindy and Sue you see, especially in those mobs on Michigan Avenue, but when you're walking down the street or through your place of employment, and it's just you and one other person (or a few people), please! I beg you, acknowledge them. Wouldn't you want the same done for you? I know there are days where you might be thinking that the world can shove its sunshine someplace dark, but maybe the person walking towards you is feeling the same way, so smile! Maybe you'll make a friend, and friends are usually fun, unless they always ask to borrow things without gratitude and without returning them - that's not so fun because then you feel like the bad guy for having to remind them multiple times that you really do need your inhaler back.
"Soak it Up" by Houses
So, I was journaling about smiling and passing it along on February 3rd, and then I went out for a run and as I was chugging up this hill - okay, break real fast, since when does Pandora put talking ads on their website? I'm not a fan of this, and in between every song!? Really. Is that necessary!? - I encountered the unhappiest people I've seen in a while; a couple walking strides apart, with the hardened dude in the front, and his sulky lady in the back. While these people probably needed a smile from a stranger more than anything, I was taken aback by their 'tudes and the hill was hitting me harder that day, and all I managed was a breathy "Hello!" to the lady, but too late to see her reaction. Yeah, so it's difficult sometimes to smile or say "Hey" because we're all in our own things, but it's nice to share a moment with a stranger, and I almost ran back to give a bigger smile, but then I thought that would probably be too weird and maybe seen as mocking like, "Oooh! I'm so happy because I'm running and I'm young and free, and you two are miserable because you're locked inside this loveless relationship." And who even knows if that's the case, maybe they were just arguing about baby names, and he wanted to name his first born son Alaster while she was not budging from Dwayne. I don't know, but I hope they're happy now.
Also that night, my mind reading iPod played "Fixing A Hole" for me, and it was perfect in that the Fab Four articulated everything I've been trying to wrap my head around for the past half a year and more:
My favorite line: And it really doesn't matter if I'm wrong, I'm right where I belong. So think about that, and smile, because while it can be hard and terrible and a definite struggle, life is beautiful and wonderful, and I'm here and you're here and let's have a happy moment for the brief time that our paths cross.
"This I Believe" by Howard White is a nicely articulated similar story to what I'm preaching today. Go ahead, make someone's day. You just might end up making your own.
Your goal: smile, high five, hug, hold a door, be kind somehow to at least one stranger today. Do it! Try it! See what happens! It will most likely make you want to be kind to people all the time, or at least more often than not.
Another song I like that seems to fit the bill of today's post:
"Smoke and Mirrors" by RJD2
The beginning music, before the vocals, was what I imagined when I read your futuristic play--the dancing and sand images. I forgot the title.
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