So this morning I've decided to start a social experiment (no, i'm not going to put a bomb on two separate ferries in Gotham City, giving the detonators to the people on the opposing ferries, and see who blows whom up first....).
My idea of a social experiment is this: Smile.
I am a person who, while walking down a sidewalk, thinks about things that just recently happened and replays them in my mind. Most of the time when I do this I form a real, genuine smile on my face (usually at the brink of turning into full-on laughter).
Well, this morning as I was doing this very thing, I looked up and made eye contact with a passer-by. With a genuine smile on my face, the passer-by was naturally persuaded to smile herself.
So I thought to myself, "Self, what if you ALWAYS walked around thinking of truly funny things/situations/experiences/etc and kept that genuine smile on your face while making contact with people you don't know whom you pass on the street..." (Big, long, run-on sentences are okay when they stay in your head.)
That's it! (Sorry it wasn't more intense or profound) So the social experiment is, whenever you're walking somewhere by yourself, that you think of things THAT MAKE YOU SMILE and allow them to ALSO MAKE OTHERS SMILE by keeping that smile on as you pass by and make eye contact with people you don't know.
I know what you're thinking, that this is kinda cheesy, but think about it--People can sense a truly genuine smile (as opposed to a forced, obligatory I'm-just-smiling-because-we-made-eye-contact-but-i-don't-know-you smile). And what if you can bring a smile to the face of someone who's having a hard time and hasn't smiled in a while???
Just try it. And let me know if you had any good experiences with it.
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