The Great Smile Experiment

I tried something the other day. I was in a really bad mood, which is pretty rare for me. And as I walked into the gym where I work out, I think I had a ill-tempered look on my face. I didn’t notice it — but I noticed that others were scowling at me. So, as often happens with me, I did my best thinking while exercising. I was pummeling the punching bag (see for example here… so maybe the punching bag was actually pummeling me?), but either way I had the thought, “What if I just made myself smile at every single person for the rest of the day?”

And I kind of got way too into it. On the way out, I talked to the perpetually grouchy guy who always checks for your gym membership. Turns out, he was friendly for once. Maybe he isn’t perpetually grouchy after all? I smiled at strangers who smiled back. And so it went. By noon, I was no longer in a bad mood at all. I was in a really good mood. I was back to my naturally smiling self, and the rest of the day — which had started off miserably — was a joy. All because of a simple smile.

There’s a surprise ending to this story, involving someone who did exactly this to me 10 years ago. She smiled at me on a really bad day. And something pretty cool has happened since, but that is a story in itself, and we’ll talk about that in the next blog. I think it’s going to make you smile…

Until then,

Mike