A smile is a curve that sets everything straight. — Phyllis Diller
How many times have you been in a foul mood and someone smiled at you and everything got better? I know that it has happened to me many times. I could be upset one moment and then feel much better the next, all because of a smile.
In October my daughter and I headed over to Disneyland. On the way there we had stopped at McDonald's for her to get something to eat. I was sitting in the drive thru lane and one of the employees walked by. He said, "Come on, smile. You're at the yummiest place on earth." My daughter and I started laughing and smiling. He was in a good mood and that transferred over to us.
I was at the grocery store the other day and noticed that every employee who passed by me smiled and asked if they could help me with anything. I must of had about six people pass by me and do this. I brought my oldest son with me and he was acting hyper. I sent him on a scavenger hunt to find items to keep him out of my hair. One of the clerks kept overhearing me tell him different items to find. He started getting in on the scavenger hunt. I think I was keeping both of them busy as it was late in the evening and there were not that many customers at the store.
Then I ran out of room in my cart and needed another cart. My son decided he didn't want to push his cart anymore so he sat on the end of my cart and had me pushing my cart with him on it and his cart around. We got to the meat section and there were different signs in the middle of the floor so we started doing figure eights around the sign. We were smiling and laughing and having fun. We took a boring task and made it fun.
We all know that it takes more muscles to make a frown than it does to make a smile. Use those muscles to make someone's day, as it may be the only smile they see all day, and you will feel the effects even more.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Is the moment right for you?
Generosity lies less in giving much than in giving at the right moment.
— Jean de La Bruyere
With Thanksgiving and Christmas around the corner, many people dig into their pockets and give. With the fires in California, people have dug into their pockets to give to help those who lost their homes and possessions rebuild. There are still others who have given of their time and efforts to help in other ways. We can all think back to Hurricane Katrina and the tsunamis a few years ago. I still remember the Whittier earthquake back in 1987.
We have always had world events come up, whether they are natural disasters or not, and people give of themselves. It is not about the amount we give, but about giving at that moment. It doesn't have to even be when something is spotlighted in the news. To the person on the receiving end, it is just the fact that you made the effort to be generous to them that counts.
I will always remember the parable told to me about the people who had wealth that gave of their extra overflow in money and the widow who gave her last two coins. She didn't have much to give, but she gave at the right moment. No one would have noticed her and what she gave because to them the amount wasn't significant, but to one person it was.
I looked up some new versions of this parable on the web and Will Shetterly compared it this way: A woman gave a great fortune to charity. Everyone applauded. Then she went home to her mansion and her servants brought her a wonderful meal. Another woman gave five dollars to charity. No one noticed. Then she went home to her little apartment and made a meal of canned soup and crackers.
What you give does not necessarily have to be of monetary value. It is what you give of yourself that makes the moment right.
— Jean de La Bruyere
With Thanksgiving and Christmas around the corner, many people dig into their pockets and give. With the fires in California, people have dug into their pockets to give to help those who lost their homes and possessions rebuild. There are still others who have given of their time and efforts to help in other ways. We can all think back to Hurricane Katrina and the tsunamis a few years ago. I still remember the Whittier earthquake back in 1987.
We have always had world events come up, whether they are natural disasters or not, and people give of themselves. It is not about the amount we give, but about giving at that moment. It doesn't have to even be when something is spotlighted in the news. To the person on the receiving end, it is just the fact that you made the effort to be generous to them that counts.
I will always remember the parable told to me about the people who had wealth that gave of their extra overflow in money and the widow who gave her last two coins. She didn't have much to give, but she gave at the right moment. No one would have noticed her and what she gave because to them the amount wasn't significant, but to one person it was.
I looked up some new versions of this parable on the web and Will Shetterly compared it this way: A woman gave a great fortune to charity. Everyone applauded. Then she went home to her mansion and her servants brought her a wonderful meal. Another woman gave five dollars to charity. No one noticed. Then she went home to her little apartment and made a meal of canned soup and crackers.
What you give does not necessarily have to be of monetary value. It is what you give of yourself that makes the moment right.
Are your shirt sleeves rolled up?
The person who is waiting for something to turn up might start with their shirt sleeves.
— Garth Henrichs
I have been frustrated lately with the amount of people I have come across who want everything done for them. It doesn't matter what it is. Many people want to put as little effort into getting things done as possible, but have high expectations on what their return should be.
My oldest son, who is a high school sophomore, decided this first semester to not put in as much effort into his homework and tests as he should have. His school progress report came in and it sucked. I don’t want to reward him for his efforts, or lack thereof. He has three months of not going anywhere to roll his shirt sleeves up and get in and do the work I know he can to raise his grades. He has already started with making the effort to get a weekly progress report from his teacher and he actually started on his community service hours that he needs to complete to graduate from high school.
He had the football coach come up to him at lunch, after he had seen my son play some football at lunch, and ask why he wasn’t on the football team this year. My son had stated to him that because we had just moved here a couple of months ago and he hadn’t trained with the team he was told he couldn’t be on it. The teacher wants him on the team next year badly. I told him that no matter how talented the coach thinks he is, that he won’t be able to play if he does not maintain a certain GPA. I hope that this is the motivation he needs to get going, but the work is up to him. He can’t skate by in life.
When we moved into our house in August, the grass was dead. The tenants before us had not watered the grass for several months. My husband wanted the grass to grow back again. After a lot of elbow grease each week raking out the dead grass after each watering and pulling out of weeds and getting a gardener to come in once the grass started to grow back in, the results are nice. We have a bright green front lawn. Because he had rolled up his shirt sleeves and made the effort, the results have paid off. He could have become frustrated because of the waiting process, but he knew that his work would eventually pay off.
Sometimes the effort we put into a project seems like it is too much for us or like it would just be easier to get someone else to do it all for you, but if we just persevere and accomplish our goal, the reward tastes so much sweeter.
— Garth Henrichs
I have been frustrated lately with the amount of people I have come across who want everything done for them. It doesn't matter what it is. Many people want to put as little effort into getting things done as possible, but have high expectations on what their return should be.
My oldest son, who is a high school sophomore, decided this first semester to not put in as much effort into his homework and tests as he should have. His school progress report came in and it sucked. I don’t want to reward him for his efforts, or lack thereof. He has three months of not going anywhere to roll his shirt sleeves up and get in and do the work I know he can to raise his grades. He has already started with making the effort to get a weekly progress report from his teacher and he actually started on his community service hours that he needs to complete to graduate from high school.
He had the football coach come up to him at lunch, after he had seen my son play some football at lunch, and ask why he wasn’t on the football team this year. My son had stated to him that because we had just moved here a couple of months ago and he hadn’t trained with the team he was told he couldn’t be on it. The teacher wants him on the team next year badly. I told him that no matter how talented the coach thinks he is, that he won’t be able to play if he does not maintain a certain GPA. I hope that this is the motivation he needs to get going, but the work is up to him. He can’t skate by in life.
When we moved into our house in August, the grass was dead. The tenants before us had not watered the grass for several months. My husband wanted the grass to grow back again. After a lot of elbow grease each week raking out the dead grass after each watering and pulling out of weeds and getting a gardener to come in once the grass started to grow back in, the results are nice. We have a bright green front lawn. Because he had rolled up his shirt sleeves and made the effort, the results have paid off. He could have become frustrated because of the waiting process, but he knew that his work would eventually pay off.
Sometimes the effort we put into a project seems like it is too much for us or like it would just be easier to get someone else to do it all for you, but if we just persevere and accomplish our goal, the reward tastes so much sweeter.
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