Hello dears, I am back from a trip to the midwest. Time with family and familiar spaces is such rich fodder for the practice, and for that I am so grateful. Much has been happening in the Sunrose Studio Idea Lab (my brain), and I am super-charged to share more yoga with you.
Smile-power.
I recently was introduced to the amazing world of Jessica Mullen and her Lifestream of Attraction (via Gala Darling), and am smitten with her work there and on The Popular Podcast. A few weeks ago, Jessica posted a video about smiling at others whilst going about one’s business. I loved the idea and thought I would try it out for myself.
A little history.
We live in Seattle. It’s neither the friendliest nor the grumpiest place (though at times, I have thought it has come dang close) I’ve lived. When Brian and I first moved here three years ago, we started a campaign to bring friendly back to our neighborhood in Seattle. Our main method was to say hello to people as we passed them on the street, in the park, and what-have-you. The trouble is… we were expecting something in return and found ourselves feeling grumpy when the recipient of our “hello” failed to reciprocate.
Cut to the Smile Experiment.
When I started smiling at people I saw on the street, whether I was on foot, bike, or in the car, most of the time, their faces showed an instant sign of relief. And whether they smiled back or not, that made me happy. This made me realize that the original friendliness project was missing something… our offering. Our gift to the universe. To others. The smile brings an immediate physical change to the smiler, which shifts the energy around her and positively affects the smil-ee… hopefully making that person smiley, too.
What has made me smile so wide this week?
- Riding my to work-class;
- Walking BK & Shyla to work in the morning;
- Gladioli;
- Lemon Water;
- Wishing my fellow volunteer a happy 90th birthday;
- Listening to KPLU and KBCS;
- Hugging my college girlfriends as tightly as I could.
How about you?
LOVE. k
divine…..Smile is religion, words are philosophies .
mile to smile………………….
distance has no meaning,, meaning is ,, how you cover it…………………………….. discover smile to cover mile…..…………….to milestone eternal……………………. happy journey……………………. bless you……………………
Hi Kelly! So happy to see more smiling! I love how you describe people’s faces having a sense of relief – that totally makes sense! When I don’t smile at people, it seems everyone is defensive & closed off, but one tiny smile & that all changes! It has totally changed my world! <3 thank you for linking to me!
Blessings, Jessica.
Thank you so much for stopping by! Yes, I completely agree that people *do* seem defensive before the smile– luckily it is easy to change that!
Thank YOU for sharing your magic trick.
All goodness,
Kelly