-Today’s blog is from the book Pause: The Secret to a Better Life, One Word at a Time. Pick up your copy onAmazon or HERE

You’ve been influenced by a smile, haven’t you? A genuine, sincere smile? A humble, joyful smile? A fitting but surprising smile? A real but holy smile?

From a picture. From real life in real time. From a young child. From an elderly friend. From a
waitress, a nurse, a counselor, a co-worker, a spouse, a child, a grandchild, a stranger in the audience, a driver in a traffic jam. Unexpected, unforced smile. Not political. Not demanding. Just a smile.

Smiles have the power to disrupt a mood. They have the potential to redirect a mind-set. They have the tendency to cause others to join in and smile along with the one initiating that mood.

Choosing to smile even when struggling to survive isn’t a bad idea. Not a fake, they’re-taking-my-picture smile. A true smile, even if a small smile—realizing life offers hope no matter what pain we’re enduring. A smile with valid reasoning behind it—realizing there is more than evil all around us; there is good all around us.

Look at that person smile.

Be that person who smiles.