Did you know there’s a large body of research on friendliness?
It turns out that people who say hello, wave, smile at their neighbors are happier people.
Maybe this sounds like a triteness, yet as hyper-relational creatures we require high doses of connection – and somehow have forgotten this in our busyness, in our heads downness, in our very recent acceptance of unfriendliness as a culturally acceptable norm – to this, please, just say no.
So, why not set a 40 day practice for yourself starting today:
Smile
Wave, say hello.
Strangers, neighbors, and everyone in between…
This is even shorter than the 30-60 second practices I typically suggest – a smile, nod, wave or hello takes zero seconds. You definitely have zero seconds!
Make it real, keep it simple.
Attending to these small actions; smiles, nods, hello’s, can be true life and culture changing choices – choices that rebel against isolation and separation as accepted norms.
This is on-the-ground activism.
40 days is the magic number if you want to make it a habit.
Let me know how it goes.
