Smile at 2 strangers daily...

Even my mother noted it today while we were having a LONG walk at the coast and through the countryside. The people from the cities at the coast itself and those spending quiet some time there like us, they give a nod or say greetings. The people from the city (which you funnily can spot from miles away) always look grumpy and never greet you. Some even dare to look angry if you greet them or give them a nod. So I have decided to keep the greeting / smiling to the countryside and coast and on holidays and not to do it in the city (where I am daily for work and where I live). A pity… I do hope that citypeople will learn how to smile and greet again.

PEOPLE OF THE WORLD, NEVER FORGET HOW TO SMILE AND GREET!!

I more or less forgot about this goal… Will re-activate it in my mind…

Oh my god, I walked around during lunch today in the city, because I needed to pick up some books quiet a walk away from my work. But man it is hard to smile at people in the city! They are all so grumpy :( But then I came home this evening and a woman passed, walking her dog. I did not know her, so she was a stranger, and I smiled. So one person at least today, it is a start :)

On vacation it’s easier than in the city. On vacation at the coast, I can smile at ten strangers while cycling if I want. Here in the city, going to and from work, everybody is so grumpy I don’t dare smile at anybody…

Not really. A stranger is after all a friend you never met. But that is not the idea behind this goal. The idea is that the world might become a much friendlier place, should people be more friendly towards one another. Looking around in the city, so many (if not most) people walk around all grumpy and this gets others grumpy too.

Now it isn’t easy for me to smile and nod a greeting to strangers, I’m extremely shy. But at the moment, on holiday, it is easier. The people here at the coast (just 100 km from my home) seem more relaxed and easier going. When you smile and nod, they smile and nod back. And just a small gesture like that, can mean a lot to some people.

Of course, I won’t be always able to reach this goal. Some days I don’t come outside and that makes it hard to smile at strangers. And I don’t know if neighbours count. But it is a goal and I want to reach it as regularely as possible.

I’ll only be able to put this goal as reached after a long time of course, when smiling at a couple of strangers daily has become a habit.