Givers are the happiest people, hoarders live in fear

Fear is real. You feel it on your body, you see it in your steps.

To become a giver is smashing the fears milling in your mind. Get rid of the excuses I can’t, I am not good enough or what if, because you always get something when you give!

Giving is misunderstood by thinking you have to give something tangible. Or money. That is also good, but it feels out of reach because you many times have no idea what the other person needs.

In a country where people don’t trust each other nor talk to strangers, I encountered a way of giving that blew my mind.

I decided (after we took off our masks) to start reaching out to others with a smile – one smile to someone every day.

Repeat it tomorrow but get a different ‘smile beneficiary’. And repeat this until it feels comfortable.

I tried this out on the two flower sellers I encountered daily at the traffic lights. I have no reason to buy a bunch of flowers for myself but have the choice of giving these men my best smiles and a thumbs-up to encourage them to keep up their work.

My ‘smile beneficiary’ also has a choice. With the flowers in his hands, the one is begging for bread – with his one hand on his tummy showing me he is hungry. The other one received my smiles and we became ‘friends’ by daily looking out for each other’s smile. I have never considered buying a flower from him, but his smile continues to make my day. 

What would have happened if I ignored these men attempting to make an honest living and drove past, grumbling that they are in the way of the traffic? I would have missed a radiant smile and maybe my smile helped the friendly flower seller to come back to that spot to keep selling his flowers.

The other flower seller may still be hungry as he left his spot. My smile had the same warmth toward him as the other.

And what did I get by giving? I felt connected and alive for being part of a community – somewhere on earth.  Fear of whatever and not reaching out could have stolen this from me.

I also learned to keep doing good. The man, who could not receive my smile, may have been in such pain caused by the shame of poverty that it was impossible to think about anything else but his hunger.

Who are we to judge others?

Keep smiling 😀

Copyright Annalie Anticevich © September 2022

Photograph, thank you to Shoeib Abolhassani on https://unsplash.com/@shoeibabhn