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Michelle's avatar

“We see the world not as it is, but as we are.”

― Anaïs Nin

Love the check in on who is the asshole.

Be the first to smile - gamify it for a day and see if you feel better at the end of the day. Extra points if you smile at an asshole:)

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Jonathan Courtney's avatar

Yes!

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Nisar Ahmed Khan's avatar

I'm going to be the first to comment :-)

Also, being first to take an initiative causes interested people to follow you naturally.. it's a ore natural flow.

Love these short voice notes Jonathan.

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Jonathan Courtney's avatar

Damn you're fast!

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Lorna's avatar

I like this and can relate - especially in crafting the trips with friends. I just want to go camping but have never once gone first to put that out there.

I do have a non negotiable space where I want to be left alone from the receiving end of small talk go firsts, and that’s on any mode of transport. You know when you’re travelling and tired and feel like a gremlin? And think you’re giving out sufficient “please don’t interact with me, I’m a gremlin” signals?

I shut down two attempts to breach the gremlin barrier at the airport this week. Maybe that was mean of me?

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Jonathan Courtney's avatar

I think its very ok to show people your gremlin barrier

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Simon Tratnik's avatar

when I was in my early 20s, my tactic with girls was to "smile first, and smile like you mean it." Surprisingly, they all wanted to hang out with me ahahaha

So, I completely agree with you that setting a tone for anything will set things "your way". Thank you for reminding me again!

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