“Make one person happy each day, and in forty years you will have made 14,600 human beings happy for a little time, at least.” -Charley Willey

Who can you make smile right now? That is your challenge of the day. We all need laughter in our lives. Giving people a little humor and entertainment leaves them with a good feeling of upbeat enthusiasm. It can be great for businesses, families, and friends.

Whenever you interact with people, even if it’s to say hello, you leave them with a feeling of kindness. If you give out cheerfulness you will get it back. Try smiling for 60 seconds straight. Concentrate on only smiling for a full minute and doing nothing else (if you try this on the cottage porch in a group you’ll all laugh so hard you might roll into the lake!). It’s amazing isn’t it, because know you start to think of all the fun things that make you smile and laugh. Your whole body feels good. It’s hard to feel down and out if you’re smiling. Smiling costs you nothing- remember the best things in life are free.

How does it make you feel to be around complainers? They just bring you down listening to their whining sessions. Now don’t get me wrong people everywhere have real problems and they do need a good friend to listen to them, but be careful that they don’ t do this every time they see you because otherwise all they’ll do is drain you of your energy. You came to the family cottage to relax and sometimes it’s difficult if you run into too many complainers.

Find the upbeat people in your everyday life and think about how they make you feel. I’m sure you’re thinking about all the laughter and stories you share with that person. My friend Cheryl and I like to laugh at all the fun things Casey, our youngest twin, has to say. Casey has the best sense of humor and he gets people in all their situations of life. He got my message about leaving people in life better than you found them. My challenge for him was to try to make at least one person smile per day. It is a great challenge to take on. It’s kind of nice when you know you can do this for people anytime you want to. And it’s free! Just think when you pass on your smile what will those people think of you?

If you are up for the challenge of trying to make one person smile it will not only change you it will change your life. When you smile it will help you forget your problems and give you a better outlook on life. I want to leave you with a funny story from the family cottage. Now Jake, one of our cottage dogs, has a daily grooming session from our grey cat named Shark. Shark sits on top of our bench and Jake just stands right next to him while he grooms his ears and his head and the top of his back. This can go on for about 10 to 15 minutes daily. They have this thing going on, it’s really quite funny to watch. Shark loves Jake, and then pretty soon after this session is over Jake will start to groom Shark. Now this doesn’t last nearly as long because Jake literally gives Shark a bath. I keep telling my teens and Dan we need to grab this on a video and upload it to YouTube. Shark does not think he is a cat, he thinks he is another cottage dog.

So grab the smiles and laughter at the family cottage. Smile every day, many times, it will do you and your family and friends good!

Dori