Happiness Is Contagious

The other day I was at my neighborhood farmer’s market. A local band was playing at the market and people were gathered around to watch. I was alone, standing amidst a sea of families. A young father stood beside me with his son on his shoulders. An older woman danced beside the stage and beckoned to a small child to dance with her. Neither was an especially rhythmic dancer, but both were enjoying themselves, smiling and laughing.

The sky was gray and the the wind was bothersome, but I felt completely moved by everyone around me. I smiled a huge grin, feeling somewhat self-conscious about being alone yet immersing myself into strangers’ happy moments. But I couldn’t help it – I was affected by the small child’s joy in his dancing with the older woman. I was caught up in the excitement of the dogs and their wagging tails as they sniffed the fresh bread. It was one of those days where it felt like I was controlled by those around me. I allowed myself to live vicariously through strangers’ joy and in turn created my own joy.

I constantly make jokes about “paying it forward” when I do something nice for someone, usually followed with “Pay it forward. To me. At a later time.” While this gets the laugh I’m looking for, I don’t actually expect anything in return because it is true, that you feel joy when doing something nice for someone else. However, I feel that this is not the norm with people as a whole, and so in the same way that I am affected by other people’s joy, I am also affected by other people’s negativity, and therefore, I tend not to give people the benefit of the doubt. So when I do see something that warms my heart, it moves me to the point of being overwhelmed with emotion.

A few weeks ago I was standing at the finish line of a race waiting for my boyfriend to cross. In that time, I watched an older man run to the end of the finish line and stop just before crossing. It was there that he tagged the hand of a man in a wheelchair who then crossed the finish line. While everyone clapped and cheered for the man’s finish, I become choked up at the smiles on both men’s faces. Thank goodness it was a sunny day and I was able to hide my tears behind my sunglasses!

We are all bound to each other for many reasons, but i feel that those who truly embrace the joyful moments in their lives are the ones who are really bound together for the right reasons. I feel no guilt or awkwardness in emerging myself into other people’s joyful moments because that merely allows me to pay it forward, and not just to myself at a later time, but to those closest to me, and since happiness is contagious, it ends up coming back to me after all.