As I got out my car in the grocery store parking lot, the kid wrangling shopping carts flashed me a smile and suddenly I felt feminine, attractive, interesting, and even a bit sexy. I didn’t know I was missing these, but his smile was really that powerful. I don’t know where it came from. I could invent all kinds of explanations on what it was really about. But it doesn’t matter. I still remember it. It still changed my mind and my day.

There is research, and lots of writing, that says it’s good for you. Andrew Newberg in his book in How God Changes our Brain has “Smile” as number eight in his list, “8 Ways to Exercise Your Brain.”  I think it is eight because it is the most obvious, but apparently smiling actually leads to neurological changes.

Meanwhile, smiling seems to be popular with researchers and bloggers, bosses and babies. One example is an article by Naomi Simson, Founder of RedBalloon, who talks about always carrying a smile with her and making smiles genuine. This is the basics of getting this right.

But that’s the rub, isn’t it? Is it right? Is it a genuine smile? Do they really mean it? What’s with that tight lipped look? Yeah, I’ll never trust anyone who looks like that. Or even why should I smile at that idiot, she just thinks she’s better than I am. I’m not making this last one up. Apparently people who feel powerful, even unconsciously, don’t smile at people who they think might be better than they are. Confused yet? But I wouldn’t take this research too seriously. If you want to expand your life, be healthier, and help change the world – yours and others – keep reading here!

For the point here is that this isn’t about what others do. Remember? This is about the small things you can do. Challenge the perceptions. Apparently when doing yoga a small, half smile helps you have a better workout. It sends messages to the brain that you can relax and all is well – and it has nothing to do with if you mean it.

Practice smiling at people as you walk down the street or cruise the grocery store, not because you’re happy, but just to elicit a response. It’s about wishing them a good day, great life, not about how you are. Although however you are I’m betting that after the third one your mood will be up and you find yourself looking for the most unlikely person to engage. That toddler who is “playing” with you when her mom isn’t looking? The homeless dude who values an acknowledgement he’s human? The well coiffed woman at the corner who will barely look at you? The TSA agent when you leave your driver’s license at security? (Yes, well, a rueful smile was all that was needed there.) My favorite is getting the checkout person who is having a no good, terrible, very bad day to smile at least a little. And yes, notice when you don’t smile (I’m important and so I won’t smile at you? I’m so tired and not sure if that person will engage?) and try one anyway.

After writing this I walked down the street and practiced. A mom holding her daughter who turned shy – and the mom and I shared a smile. The all-business guy who didn’t smile, but seemed compelled to ask, “How are you?” And the postman who yelled, “How are you?” with a huge, owning the universe smile.

So this is your homework. Practice. Report in. It will change you along with those around you. Promise.

Stories? Thoughts? How has it changed you and those you meet?

Photo credits (from top):
Smile Pendant – BlueIsCoool
Ethan – SpiritMoxie
Sonia Brooks – SpiritMoxie
Reminder – Ganasha Balunsat

Revolving doors? Surely I could find something more romantic for a first post! Besides, where do you even find revolving doors anymore? They seem to have disappeared, to be replaced by two sets of doors, or given up to high utility bills as a cost of doing business.

But when you see them, use them – unless you’re carrying huge packages, pushing a stroller, are in a wheelchair, or are scared to death of them. The sign says “please use revolving doors.” Why? When they were invented more than 100 years ago they were seen as a way to prevent the “entrance of wind, snow, rain or dust.” [quoted from the original patent in this Slate article.] 

Today, we use revolving doors as a low cost way to manage the air transfer between spaces.  So when outside air is hotter or colder than that in the building, the revolving door helps reduce the amount of energy needed to keep air at the inside building temperature.

In the example in the Slate article, using the side doors causes eight times the amount of air transfer through the building, i.e., more air to heat or cool. more energy used. The implications of this is a hefty savings for those managing the building. They could use these funds for better salaries, a more inviting environment, essential maintenance, resources for students if in a school, or a Caribbean cruise for the owner.

But even if the the money saved pays for the building owner’s new boat, revolving doors still save a huge amount of energy, which is important to those of us who realize that saving energy is one small part of our saving the world. And in the best butterfly effect theory, one bit of saved energy can lead to yet another.

There’s even more. Using revolving doors slows us down just a bit. Not enough to make us late. Just enough to change our patterns, which may make us think a little differently or see things from another angle. It also gives us another way to share with others. There’s the polite push that makes it easier for another to get through. Or the acknowledgement to a stranger that we’re getting it right. And then there’s our quick smile as we watch children giggling at going round and round until an impatient parent calls. Any of these things connect to something else.

 What can you see? Where might a simple revolving door lead?

And “the earth was a formless void . . .” [Genesis 1:2a NRSV]. So the story goes, we were created out of nothing – or out of chaos. Now chaos is a fairly popular addition to our understanding of the world, not to describe as a hopeless mess, but as an explanation of the seemingly random and unpredictable. And in popular parlance, it is a theory where minute changes apparently magnify into huge events – and where equally minute actions can prevent them. An example is when in 1972 the meteorologist Edward Lorenz presented a paper, “Does the Flap of a Butterfly’s Wing in Brazil Set Off a Tornado in Texas?” Apparently he didn’t really answer that question. And through that theory that  flap could prevent as well as cause a tornado. But as a result, this image has become an icon for the possible effect of small changes.

In my head this relates to a truth I’ve held for years: we don’t need to do it all to be all things to all people. Ignoring this causes a lot of the angst in the world. It is not our job to fix our neighbor – or our partner or our children. It is not up to us to discover the cure for cancer, make our family “whole,” or rebuild a business, a relationship, a country, the church, or the world. However, the flip side is that we probably have some responsibility for all of the above, and each of us certainly has responsibility for some of it. There are two additional theories that support this.

The first is a personal, although not unique, theory that I call “touch tag evangelism.”* It works very simply. One only need do what one is called to do, what presents itself at any given time, in order to facilitate change. To touch. This can be anything from a late night session expounding the meaning of life to a smile in the grocery store line. Your “touch” can last for the years someone lives in your house to the two-second exchange in the parking lot. And often you don’t even know it happens, but sometimes are given the grace of hearing later that your doing so and so did such and such. And sometimes not. But the chain is there. Someone else lent a hand or an ear. The person read something they “happened” to find or that you recommended. If you discover the cure for cancer, it will be based on the work of those who preceded you, probably accompanied by some accidental (chaotic?) incidents.  And through that series of events the world becomes a little more whole.

The second theory is that the world can indeed work and that we can help make it so. Hopelessness is one of the great self-fulfilling prophecies. However it is also a choice to choose to live in hope and to see the wonders of creation. To live in hope can be equally self-fulfilling.

Even if we’re called to run for public office or to finance a great initiative, it is really just, like above, a touch, part of a series of little things that we can all do to nurture creation and community. For me this began as a hundred “how to make the world work” words and phrases on note cards, a series of “if only people” actions that could help and would multiply if done by more than me. Some are specific (smile!). Some are more reflective (be willing to be wrong [even this theory!]). But their importance was highlighted in a throw-away remark at a recent public presentation. As we took our water break at a retreat house with cups and jugs of water, the presenting professor shared that her students refused to use their own cups in class on the theory that what they did didn’t matter.

I’m inviting you to the conversation that it does matter. Let us answer the challenge one touch, one flap of a wing, at a time, and see where they lead. My bet is that together we can change the world. To facilitate this I will be posting about one topic each week. But this is a conversation not a monologue, so responses are encouraged. You can sign up to receive the posts as they appear in the sidebar on the right.

*Since I’m using the word “evangelism,” this clearly came from my church background and experiences. The short version is that God “saves” (if you use that term). People don’t.