Talking Table Thursdays

Happy Thursday Everyone!

Growing up as a kid we could talk about anything at my Mother’s kitchen table. You had to keep it civil, and you had to defend your position, but open debate and frank discussion were strongly encouraged. We’re considering Table Talk Thursdays to honor and continue that legacy. We’ll be choosing topics from current events, happenings, what people want to talk about and issues in the news/world to discuss. If you have a topic you’d like to see covered, please post us a comment and we’ll add it to the discussing.

Today it’s the power of a smile. My husband and I are fortunate enough to live near Glacier National Park where we like to go hike as often as we can. While much of the time we have the trails to ourselves, as the season progresses there are more and more hikers on the trails. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like we’re all stacked back to back like the miners heading to Alaska going over the Chilcoot Trail! But there are more people than in the early spring.

When we hike I have made it a point to smile and say hello to everyone we see on the trail. It’s been a fun little experiment and I think my husband has had more fun with it than I with it because he got to see more of the reactions from people than I did. What did we find? Some people got it and smiled back, many that smiled even said hi. However, more would give a hesitant smile and from what husband reports more often than not the people would turn and look back at me after they had passed me. I found in fun that a simple smile and hello could be received in such a wide disparity of ways.

I’d love to hear how it turns out for you to try your smile experiment! I strongly recommend doing it with another person who can observe the people you have smiled at once you are out of their sight. That’s where the fun comes in! Besides, what’s it hurt to share a smile?

Feel better, share a smile today!