I forget that I have a blog! Not conducive to communicating the many crucial issues that we are all faced with, and the solutions that I believe would revolutionize day-to-day life and the quality thereof. Two preposition endings! I think.
Anyway, one technique for improving day-to-day life is to smile at people. I've tried this, and in nine cases out of ten, people smile back, get in on the joke, and I have to think that they get a least a small amount of shiny endorphins that make them feel better than they did seconds prior to smiling. The cumulative effect of this practice, if employed more widely, would reduce stress and make people feel more accepted, and therefore more likely to think of others before adding up the thousand natural shocks, slings and arrows of the day that they believed were aimed at them. 'Thinking of others' as a benevolence to society and ourselves should be self-explanatory.
One of my favorite stories from the days when I used to go to church is the one about the long-handled spoons. I wish there were a better story that illustrates my point, because the fact is, I can figure out a simple solution for the people in Hell. But anyway....here it is:
Long Handle Spoons
By: Author Unknown
A man spoke with the Lord about heaven and hell. The Lord said to the man, "Come, I will show you hell."They entered a room where a group of people sat around a huge pot of stew. Everyone was famished, desperate and starving. Each held a spoon that reached the pot, but each spoon had a handle so much longer than their own arm that it could not be used to get the stew into their own mouths. The suffering was terrible.
"Come, now I will show you heaven," the Lord said after a while. They entered another room, identical to the first -- the pot of stew, the group of people, the same long-handled spoons. But there everyone was happy and well-nourished. "I don't understand," said the man. "Why are they happy here when they were miserable in the other room and everything was the same?"
The Lord smiled, "Ah, it is simple," he said. "Here they have learned to feed each other."
This is what Mark Twain said..."Keep smiling - it makes people wonder what you've been up to."
Another possible effect of smiling is that it's possible that the physical expression might change your mood. There have been scientific studies about this, but I think it's simpler and more cost-effective to just try it. 8-)
