Lo. I loved this post and the music. Looking forward to hearing your new song. So why did the post resonate with me?
First it was a cultural education. First I used to know lots of Slavs who smiled, but they knew me. But when I have seen them on TV, they never look happy and my first response was, maybe it was because life was tough. But then I look at people in Africa, in a shelter where my daughter used to volunteer. The kids were orphans, most had been physically and sexually abused. Their diet was often a gruel with rice that had the same colour as the red dirt that surrounded their homes. They always smiled.
I thought about cultures and even animals. If you smile and show your teeth to a dog that doesn't know you, it will make them afraid.
In NZ like Aussie, we smile and say gidday to total strangers walking on the footpath, and mostly share a nod and a smile, even when I was a teenager walking home at midnight, walking home from work in a burger bar next to a fairly rough pub. That almost got me in trouble on my first trip to NYC, smiling and nodding to an African American man standing on a street corner in Manhattan. He looked back at me, snarling "What's your problem?"
As a cold calling B2B salesman I was also taught to smile on a bad day, and even though it felt totally fake, I could feel a little endorphins and maybe a relaxing shiver down my spine.
Thanks for an awesome post, which I will be sharing with my followers.
Ah I can see you smiling in the street, I can! Beautiful post thank you.
So nice Genevieve, thank you!
Lo. I loved this post and the music. Looking forward to hearing your new song. So why did the post resonate with me?
First it was a cultural education. First I used to know lots of Slavs who smiled, but they knew me. But when I have seen them on TV, they never look happy and my first response was, maybe it was because life was tough. But then I look at people in Africa, in a shelter where my daughter used to volunteer. The kids were orphans, most had been physically and sexually abused. Their diet was often a gruel with rice that had the same colour as the red dirt that surrounded their homes. They always smiled.
I thought about cultures and even animals. If you smile and show your teeth to a dog that doesn't know you, it will make them afraid.
In NZ like Aussie, we smile and say gidday to total strangers walking on the footpath, and mostly share a nod and a smile, even when I was a teenager walking home at midnight, walking home from work in a burger bar next to a fairly rough pub. That almost got me in trouble on my first trip to NYC, smiling and nodding to an African American man standing on a street corner in Manhattan. He looked back at me, snarling "What's your problem?"
As a cold calling B2B salesman I was also taught to smile on a bad day, and even though it felt totally fake, I could feel a little endorphins and maybe a relaxing shiver down my spine.
Thanks for an awesome post, which I will be sharing with my followers.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Luigi, I’m so glad it resonated!