BOOK REVIEW: Smiling at Strangers
by Nancy Lewis
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ABOUT THE BOOK (from Amazon):
It all started with a smile. A trip to the local farmers market created an opportunity for the author of Smiling at Strangers to offer a simple kindness to a stressed young mother shopping with four small children. She made eye contact and smiled, and the mother responded with a soft “Thank you.” This single act is one of the greatest gifts we can give one another. The message it sends is, I see you and acknowledge our kinship as members of the human species doing the best we can. I wish you well.
Everyone deserves to be seen and acknowledged. In a world that many experience as cold and lonely, receiving a simple smile can bring the warmth of connection, however brief.
Smiling at Strangers: How One Introvert Discovered the Power of Being Kind, written by a shy and introverted author, is a handbook for building a community of kindred souls who share her mission to create a kinder world one smile at a time. Although it has much to offer to anyone wanting to share kindness with others, its target audience is kind-hearted socially shy introverts who tend to restrict interactions with strangers in public places. It will empower even the most introverted among us to interact in the world in a different way through actions as simple as a smile of acknowledgment.
My Review:
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The world needs more books like Smiling at Strangers!
How can we make the world a kinder, better place? The answer is simple. It starts with each of us as individuals making a conscious choice to spread kindness in even the most seemingly insignificant moments throughout our days.
“Every time we step into our discomfort instead of avoiding it, we grow our confidence, and the world we inhabit benefits.” – Nancy Lewis, #SmilingAtStrangers
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Nancy tells dozens of stories in her book about the moments when she had a choice—she could treat the grocery store clerk like just a worker or she could take a moment to ask them about their life outside of work, she could ignore the people in line around her or she could look up with a smile and give someone a compliment.
The concept is simple. We have the ability to impact the people around us every day. Even if we are introverted and it forces us out of our comfort zones.
This book is a quick read (just 100 pages), and Nancy’s writing is beautiful and inspiring!
“We can reprogram ourselves by choosing to tell ourselves a different story about who we are and animating that new story by making different choices from the ones that are creating unhappiness.” – Nancy Lewis, #SmilingAtStrangers
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