Have you noticed when you feel down and are having a negative day you find yourself staring down and the sidewalk while you are walking and not wanting to look people in the face? of course we have ll been here haven’t we.
I gave myself some homework a couple weeks ago and decided that where ever I went I was going to walk with my head up and a smile on my face and say “Hello” to everyone I met, whether I felt like it or not.
This really has not been too hard but there were a few days I just did not feel like doing it but I forced myself. You know what I realized?
I realized that forcing myself to smile and look at people helped change my mood rather quickly. About 98% of the time others would smile back and I had a lot of great conversations with great people.
I actually have wanted to get out of the house at the end of my husbands work day just so I could go out and meet some new people. When you are with small children all day long, it can get a bit lonely for adult conversation and this new attitude I was portraying has helped with that void.
I am doing this at the grocery store, mall, and even on walks when I have my kids.
So next time you are feeling down and depressed and lonely then may I suggest making a point to smile talk, and compliment others and the come back here and tell me how your day changed to better. I am willing to bet it does. I am going to keep doing this.
Oh and my kids are seeing this first hand too which is cool. I still give them the “don’t talk to stranger’s” talk but I do it a little different.
I tell them that if a stranger approaches them that is different then smiling and saying hello to someone. Unfortunately, in this world, we do have to put a little bit of fear into our kids when it comes to stranger’s but that does not mean that we need to make them scared of walking down the road or at the store and saying hello and nice to meet you to people. This is a fine line I am playing around with to find the right solution! I get compliments all the time on how friendly and sweet my daughter is and I really owe that to my journey to positive thinking!
Have a great weekend and make a point to make ONE new friend today. If you make more then that is even better!
Oh…come link up to my own personally sponsored blog hop all weekend!
I have the same problem with looking down or acting like I'm interested in something up in the trees when I walk past people. I'm going to try out your suggestion. Thanks!
Oh, and stop by my blog. I have an award for you! http://mccrenshaw.blogspot.com/2011/03/im-stylish-blogger.html
New follower from the hop!!
Hope you stop by The House on the Corner when you have a sec!!
http://donnashouseonthecorner.blogspot.com
Following you from week-end hop. Here is a smile for you :)hope you come and visit me soon.