Don't Rain on Anyone Else's Parade!

Each of us finds fulfillment and enjoyment in different big and small ways.  And big and small are relative.  Things that I find exciting may be tremendously boring to others.  And things that bring great joy to others may be trivial to me.

However, we can make the world a happier place by eagerly interacting, actively listening and responding with empathy and interest to others.  We might even learn something in the process!

Questions Connect

Questions connote interest, elicit information and give us the chance to discover commonalities when we pay attention to the answers given. 

How Are You?

Think for a moment about how many times per day we greet or are greeted in person or on the phone with some version of "How are you?".  The most typical response, when we pause long enough to acknowledge, is "Fine".  I've forced myself to pause recently, when I ask some version of the question, to listen to the other person's answer, instead of continuing with an automatic response.  A different response such as, "Terrific, Awesome, or Having a Wonderful Day" instantly jolts me into interacting versus automatically responding.  Perhaps we should consciously greet others with a less expected question to elicit additional positive interaction.