Smile! Why let someone else's bad attitude ruin your day?

It always amazes me to see who purposely opens a door for you, especially early in the morning on your way to Starbucks? This morning a detective went out of his way to open the door for me. I couldn’t tell whether he viewed me as an old man that needed help or was genuinely showing kindness? So I smiled at him and waited for him to get in line ahead of me. He chose to first sit down and get his laptop running. So I intentionally persuaded him to let me buy him a cup of coffee.  I saw a surprised look on his face but wanted him to realize that he had made my day by smiling and opening the door for me!

I’m around a lot of people that too often have this ‘crappy’ face on them and seem to want to throw a pity party. I’m always puzzled as to why anyone would choose to look this way? I can remember my mom always telling me that if I keep frowning my face might stay that way. Clearly it takes more energy to frown instead of smiling.

So what has to happen to help someone go from crappy to happy or at least having a smile on his or her face? It’s true that most of us have been raised in the instant gratification mindset. If I can’t get what I want immediately than I’m going to have that ‘crappy’ face. What would happen if instead of always thinking about ME, we would choose to look around and see what we could do for others? Isn’t feeling better about your life circumstances often more a by-product of choosing to get up, don’t stay on the couch or in bed and do something that matters for someone else?

This last Saturday I had spent the day with a group at the lake boating. It was a lot of fun but for me a long day as I rose at 5:30am and arrived home around 3:30 pm. I had received a few texts asking for some help. Initially I thought I’m tired, sun and wind ravished, so they can wait till tomorrow I need my rest. As I considered this crappy attitude response it struck me how fortunate I was and how unfair it was for a few of my friends to be in difficult circumstances. So I wiped off that crappy face and quickly showered and then helped a family with some food and another with some funds so their lights would come back on.

It’s important to realize that feelings in life aren’t solely a by-product of your possessions but your choice to make a difference in someone else’s life! Yes, bad stuff will happen that might attempt to put a crappy face on you but resist and smile as you do something as simple as open the door for someone else.