I posted this song on my Facebook page this morning.
I have been thinking about it since.
I feel as if it is really true you know. The idea that you are never fully dressed without a smile.
I think part of my desire to dress in colour is my outward expression of finding happiness.
Smiling and happiness kind of go hand in hand don't they.
People often say to me "You are always so happy, so relaxed".
I'm not. Just as I am sure you are not.
ALWAYS is a LONG time!
But I really really try to be both of those things.
I have had my fair deal of hardships. Some crippling for a LONG time.
Some I still struggle with every single day and I have come to accept that they are part of me.
Part of a whole.
Some parts good, some not so good.
Some parts I am comfortable with , some that make me uneasy.
Some parts I feel I have achieved what I want, some a work in progress.
I accept that every person is a work in progress, always doing their very best at any given point.
Everyone's reality is a very different thing on any given day.
One thing I try really really hard to do each day is to find joy.
Joy in small things.
Things that don't have quantifiable or monetary value as such but the small simple pleasures.
A smile is one of them.
A smile is not bound by language.
It is a communal and universal gesture of kindness.
Years ago I wrote this post about how we love to use our front yard and I mentioned an elderly lady who lives in my street.
She has been walking up and down my street every day that we have lived here- I think we worked out the other day that it is SEVEN years!
Every time I saw her I would look at her, smile and say Hello. Every time for the first five years she would duck her head and keep walking.
Then one day she didn't duck her head.
That one day she looked me in the eyes and said in a very quiet & heavily accented voice "Hello" and nodded with a smile.
After she had walked past my fence a tear rolled down my cheek.
It all made sense.
She hadn't been saying 'Hello' or acknowledging me, not because she was grumpy or didn't want to interact but because she didn't speak a word of English & she was frightened to speak.
I felt overcome. It was such a big thing. And I am so so glad that I kept on saying 'Hello'.
Our communal language was a smile.
She smiles and says 'Hello' every day now. There is no need for more words than that one.
So much power in one word and one gesture.
I hope something or someone makes you smile today.
It feels so so good.
Both to receive and to give.
