The simple innocence of HEL-o
Say 'Cheese'
You know when you see a rainbow, a dolphin, or a when something steals heart away because it’s too wonderful for words?
That happened yesterday.
After being the valley of despair for getting a parking ticket because...who can read the signs if you can't 'read the room', 19+ simple gestures of ‘hello’ transformed and uplifted my spirit.
In America and Australia ‘G’day is part of the vernacular. Finland not so much.
Saying HEL-o in HEL-sinki to strangers is pretty much culturally out.?But not under certain circumstances: if you’re a kid, just being ‘you’, and doing what comes naturally.
Whist stopping at a cross walk to let a swarm of 30 pint-sized kindergarteners march across the street, spontaneously the parade started smiling and waving their heart out, for no good reason. I found myself enjoying the moment profusely. Laughing and waving back.
Uplifting. Re-generating. Pure fun. All because of a wave and a smile.
Yes, the "flow of emotions from one person to another, with the receiver 'catching' the emotions that the sender displays is called emotional contagion (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2006, p. 58), and is a very good thing! One study conducted on EASI theory, (emotions as social Information) linked the impact of displays of positive emotion when shared with others.
Apparently smiling (vs non-smiling), is also good for customer attitudes and behaviour, - it even makes people buy more! (Otterbring, 2018;Pantano, 2016).But, beyond commercial consumerist consumption...
Moral? Stand tall, say 'hello', and simply smile to get the best results across the board.
Why? Because we’re wired for hello, acceptance, connection! Smiles for everybody! Smiling can make someone’s day.
It did mine.