Saturday, May 16, 2009

When Everybody's Cheerful and Friendly

One day at work, as I started my appointed rounds, I couldn't help but notice that everybody I encountered was cheerful and friendly. The weather was turning from Winter to Spring and that added to the good feeling of the day.

I mused for a couple of hours about what was putting so many people in such a good mood, and then I saw my favorite mail carrier fall down. And after that, nobody was friendly anymore.

And I realized the rewards of a cheerful countenance. When everybody was cheerful and friendly, they were reacting to my happy face due to the weather turning. After that fall, I didn't wear a cheerful countenance anymore and the people I encountered weren't cheerful and friendly at all.

I read in the bible once that a man who has a wife with a cheerful countenance is truly blessed. That's not a quote but it went something like that. And I think many men subconsciously rate the success of their marriage, either at any given moment or in the long term, by the general appearance of their wife's countenance. And this subconscious rating will have a very big effect on his mood and on the general health of the marriage. Don't get me wrong, I think I have a very successful marriage but it might be because Mr. Right is used to my countenance by now. After all he's had 41 years to live with it.

So I think we should try an experiment. Some people just naturally look happy and cheerful (or wait, maybe they work at it) and some people have a countenance like mine (not happy and cheerful). I think those of us that don't naturally possess a cheerful countenance should try for a day or two to put on a REALLY, REALLY happy face and see what happens.

I'm going to try it soon and when I do, I'll let you know how it turns out for me.

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like a great idea. I have to ask, what is your job? Have a great rest of your weekend and keep smilimg!

    ReplyDelete

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