Have a Nice Day

Have a nice day!

Do we not hear this so often? Every time our eyes meet someone else's on the road, in our office, at the grocery store or just about anywhere... We instinctively go "How are you doing?" replied with an equally mechanical "Good! How are you?" while our feet continue on their path.

Just in case, we do stop to have a conversation with a familiar face, we end it with a 'Have a nice day!" and "You too!". Day in & day out, we exchange these pleasantries, majorly without our conscious brains involved. Today however, I got jolted by an answer, which on the face seemed pretty similar and routine, but it was different. When I walked away from someone at the water-cooler with a 'Have a nice day!", he replied with a "You do the same!". I almost stopped... not because it was an answer other than the regular, but because it had a different connotation. Or so I felt!

'Have a nice day' has a pretty passive undertone to it... like, I get to have what the day gives me. But the verb in "you do the same" is a lot more direct and action-oriented. It tells me that I can do something about it. I do not need to meekly accept whatever treatment the day metes out to me. This thought is very enabling and energizing.

But what can I do? Do I have the power to create my own day? Can I really make it nice even when it is not... which it usually is? There is so much happening in and around me, and hardly is there a thing which is in my control. How can I do something about my day when I am not able to choose what happens to me and my world? How can I have a nice day?

It is true. There is so much in the world around me that I cannot change to my liking. If there is snow, then there is snow, and I have to clean it off my car & my driveway. If it rains then it rains, and I have to walk through puddles of dirty water. If there's traffic and I am stuck, then I am stuck. If I have a mean boss or warmongering colleagues then that's the way it is. If business is slow, then it's slow. Life is constantly sending things our way, and so many of them aren't things that we like.

So, the question still persists... how do I make my day nice? The answer lies in a combination of physics and meta-physics. Sir Newton proclaimed in his 3rd law that 'every action has an equal & opposite reaction'. While it may not be true for all of physics, this postulate holds the key to my problem. It is the reaction that matters. What happens is beyond my control, but how I react to it, is always in my control. I can choose to react in the way I want. I can either give an 'equal & opposite' reaction or do it a bit differently. The best way to make our day nice, is to react gracefully. Grace, I would say, is the beauty of life. It is grace that makes a dance beautiful. It is grace that makes speech beautiful. It is grace that makes giving beautiful. Grace added to anything makes the latter beautiful. So why not my reaction, and why not my day?

Let life throw anything at me, I will catch it gracefully. Let life ask me questions, I will answer gracefully. Let life line up challenges my way, I will live upto them gracefully. Let life even send me joys, and I will enjoy them gracefully. It is the reaction that makes all the difference. I can choose to have a nice day irrespective of what lies around the corner, just by spicing up my reactions with a little bit of grace. The spicier, the tastier!

And where do I get this grace from? From my Father. Just pick some from the constant showering of His unending grace.You will never run out of it.

So the next time someone gives you a "Have a nice day", say "I am, and you do too!"

Cheers!