Smiles Everyone, Smiles!

The phrase comes from one of my all-time favorite sports talk guys, Steve Czaban. The Czabe often says it after Redskins losses (I tried to find a clip, but couldn't). I often post it to Twitter, Foursquare or Facebook on those random occurrences when I need to remind myself to smile. 

I posted it this morning with my morning check-in at the train station, and determined that today I would make a concerted effort to smile at everyone with whom I came into contact. Trust me, this is a tough thing for me: I'm often asked "What are you so mad about?" even if I'm in a perfectly fine mood. 

Apparently, I wear the face of a sour-puss. To everyone who has to deal with me on a daily basis, I apologize! I am working on those facial muscles, I promise. You all have permission to tell me "Smiles everyone, smiles".

Rufus

This morning I witnessed a wonderful reminder of the power of a smile. I normally take the 5:50 VRE train from Manassas to Crystal City, normally sit on the same car. This car is "serviced" by the same conductor just about every day. 

Rufus is a young guy who always has a smile on his face, even though he's probably been up and at work for several hours by this point. In addition to a smile, he's always got a friendly word for the passengers, and has developed a great relationship with all of the regular riders.

Apparently Rufus has recently had a son. This morning, the passengers in our car had a surprise for Rufus (unfortunately I wasn't in on it...see above where I said "normally" take this train). A banner was rolled out and hung from the upper-level seats: "It's a Boy", and a lot of the passengers had presents for Rufus. Rufus was totally taken aback and extremely grateful for the outpouring of love that was shared with him.

 It was a terrific experience to be a peripheral part of. And it reminded me that having the attitude that Rufus carries will positively impact those with which you come into contact. And that positive impact will act as a seed that will sometime come to fruition in unexpected ways.

Why?

Today's impactful article, Create the "Why Habit" To Change Your Behavior, discusses the habit of drilling down from your actions to the real reason you're performing them. I'd recommend reading it and coming back for my self-exposition.

So, why smile at everyone I see today?

Here's what I came up with:

1) It makes me feel better. But why?

2) Because I might make someone else smile. But why is that the reason (beyond just being a friendly person and "we're living in a society")?

3) Because if I make them smile they might like me better. Why do I care that they like me better?

4) Because I have a need to be liked and accepted. And, why?

5) Because I have a serious fear of failure....oh, well there you have it. Now I have something to work on!