I just spent a couple of days in a house that had a baby in it.

Generally I’m not sure about babies and am not sure what to say to them, seeing as they don’t say much back.

But this one has an amazing skill that goes a long way towards breaking the ice.  Whenever she sees someone she grins from ear to ear and beams with happiness.  It takes a little while to get over the feeling of being a fraud …  but when someone looks at you with such a look of pure delight, its impossible not to respond positively.

So today’s challenge to the world: next time you see someone, smile at them.  Or if cheesy grins don’t come naturally, then just do your “twinkly eye” thing.  You can’t fake a twinkle in the eye.  You know you can do it.  Just be delighted to see them.  And see how they respond.  No excuses.  Just try it.

Let me know how you get on!  (And no this isn’t an excuse to become a stalker.  If you spend all day smiling at one person, you WILL freak them out)

I think its fun to be frivolous, and that its also important to keep asking questions of a deep and philosophical nature.  And I don’t see any reason why the two things shouldn’t co-exist. In fact I think a good balance of frivolity and depth is a vital part of living a well-balanced adult life.

So I was amused to notice today that I was thinking really shallow thoughts and fairly deep thoughts simultaneously.  Two strands of thought going on at the same time (plus another strand which was observing the two strands and being amused at the irony, and presumably some other strands which were taking care of the business of walking down the street without crashing into anyone…)

Anyway I was wandering along the street thinking to myself about haircuts.  And at the same time, a different part of my brain was answering the question, “are people intrinsically good, or intrinsically bad?”  Not sure why I was interested in that question, but I enjoyed the process of answering it.  *

And then I booked a hair appointment.  So all is well with my head, inside and out.

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*PS If you’re interested in the conclusion, it was this:  “people are intrinsically good, but selfish”.  Which covers all bases really and may be a bit of a cop-out.  If I was genuinely philosophical then I’d also give you all my reasoning and demonstrate how I got to that conclusion, but I’m not going to.

PPS if you’re interested in the haircut, that will have to wait.  Its not for another week, its timed to coincide with the wedding, in which the “dress of wonder” will have its first public outing.