“I was smiling yesterday, I am smiling today and I will smile tomorrow. Simply because life is too short to cry for anything.” ~ Santosh Kalwar, Quote Me Everyday

I recently conducted a mini-experiment. Someone once told me that I never smile enough, and since I live in New York, I smile even less. So, I did a little experiment to see the benefits of smiling.

These are the results:

• I got two loaves of specialty bread at the bakery for the price of one. The bakery guys said that there is a two-for-one special, but only for me because my smile was so fabulous. “Keep it up,” they advised. I tipped them $5 (the cost of the extra loaf) because they made my day.
• A man at the subway let me get in front of him in line. I didn’t even ask. I merely smiled at him and he motioned for me to step ahead of him in line. For anyone that lives in New York, you know that this is rare, unless of course you are a Giselle Bündchen look-a-like, which I am not, so the smile bought me a place in the front of the bus line.
• I got free samples of chocolate at the Godiva store. The male store clerk seemed so mesmerized that he gave me about $14.00 worth of chocolate truffles. “On the house,” he said.
• On my walk home from the train station, I passed by a restaurant-bar. A young man and woman were handing out flyers advertising their happy hour specials. I smiled at them, and accepted a flyer. One of them said, “You are the only one who has smiled at us all day. Thank you! You’ve made our day!”

Are we so accustomed to people generally ignoring us that as soon as we see a glimmer of friendliness from a stranger, it completely changes our day? From my little experiment, it seems that that is the case. It was a fun little experiment, and at the end of the day, smiling did actually make me feel better inside.

The little freebies I received were very nice, and I appreciated them, but the smiles that I received in return — priceless.