Sunshine

​As Spring comes to Europe, the sun starts shining more often. Spring is a wonderful part of the year and a time I truly love. As I was working towards the building of a client the other day I felt the sun on back, the smell of Jasmine and other flowers filled the air. I spotted people eating breakfast on their rooftop balcony and generally everything felt good in the world. I had dropped my son to school in time and had arrived at my destination with enough time to grab a coffee! So far so good. I felt good, like sunshine. It really enabled me to truly feel like I had the chance to share that sunshine, so having practiced more German I wished the receptionist a 'Wunderschönen guten Morgen!' like they do on Guten Morgen Österreich. Gosh it felt good and the receptionist responded kindly.

We all know people who are absolute sunshine, who spread it everywhere they go and help others feel a little bit better than before they came into your life! I want you to be one of these people too. Like a Smiler who spreads smiles, spread sunshine. What exactly is sunshine though as it relates to someone?

I think someone with sunshine is:

• Warm in their greeting with you
• Positive in their energy
• They radiate and glow
• Perhaps they dress in warm colours
• They make others feel important and special
• They give their energy, love and warmth without too many expectations in return
• They are confident and positive in their own lives and what you might achieve in yours
• They have a direction in life

Often we meet people though who seem a bit grey. They don't shine. They are not interested in greeting you positively, perhaps you feel like a burden to them, they don't make you feel important and they drain you of energy. We all know some of those people. We need them though as then we know when we are around someone who is sunshine. As people, we are also a mixture. Too much sunshine all the time is just as boring as too much grey.

But where does your balance fall? Are you sunshine? Do you delight in the small things, take stock of where you are and aim to improve your life in small incremental steps, or are you a little grey, taking longer to achieve tasks, needing more motivation and energy and feeling less enthusiastic?

For me, I enjoy being sunshine. My small acts of care and kindness, leave me feeling energised. I am an extroverted personality and these things help me. I remain aware though that my mission is not to change others, but to simply offer the opportunity. Smiles are not always received or met openly and I am not trying to change the world. I am trying to change myself. To not fall into a victim mentality and to slow my personal growth and progress by feeling grey. I instead aim to embrace all things and share what I can, with those I love, while I still can. Life is short and time is a limited resource. Therefore choose wisely. Smile and be sunshine when you can, because we all know sometimes we won't. Embrace your surroundings, remain aware and see what possibilities and opportunities open up for you!