Posts Tagged ‘sick people’
This day started with some rough edges. My wife was down with a cold and our kids were doing what kids naturally do, messing up the house, squabbling with each other, and not doing exactly what they were supposed to be doing. So it was hard to get a smile back early on. But, later in the day, my wife did return smiles. I have come to this realization about sick people.
Sometimes you must persist in efforts to bring cheer when the other person is under the weather. Sick people often don’t like to smile back. But keep trying. They need the smile more than anyone.
Later in the day I dropped in to pay a short visit to my in-laws. My mother-in-law was again very cheery towards me! She has, it seems, benefited almost more than anyone from this experiment.
The kids continued to respond in a very positive manner. They seem to like the new me.
This day started with a few bumps. An upset stomach makes it a bit difficult to smile. I think feeling ill in general might make it difficult to smile. So keep that in mind the next time you visit someone in the hospital. Or if a normally cheerful friend seems a bit off, you might want to inquire as to why and offer your help in any way. But by midday I pulled out of it. Working from home this day I did not have a lot of chances for interaction, but what little opportunity I had showed more positive results. In the evening my sons had a few friends over and I tried my smiling on them – they responded positively by smiling back. These friends of my sons have a dad that smiles a lot (in addition to being a wonderful helper to many people in need), so I guess they are kind of used to this.
In the evening, when my wife pulled in the driveway with my two daughters, I risked blowing my cover (nobody in the family knows about this experiment) and rapped on both my wife’s and older daughter’s car windows and just gave them a big smile. Kind of goofy I know, but they liked being greeted like this. Better than a scowl, huh?
