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I need to learn to love my own smile

January 2, 2018 By bamatthews Leave a Comment

I need to learn to love my own smile

I’m not sure what was being said when this picture was taken. Or who said it. It was taken a couple years ago during an awards luncheon where I was honored to receive an award for managing conflict. We were all asked to share briefly in front of the attendees when we received our awards. I don’t mind public speaking – I actually enjoy it. But I’ve never much enjoyed seeing pictures of myself.

Because I dislike my own smile.

I always have. I’m not exactly sure why.

Perhaps it’s vanity.

I don’t like my teeth … or how “gummy” my smile is. And there are few things I detest more than posing and smiling for a picture – that forced, fake smile. Seeing pictures of myself smiling is only slightly better than hearing recordings of my own voice. Scratch that – I think it’s worse.

Or, perhaps it’s something deeper.

Often I’ve pursued discipline while denying myself pleasure. I think I’ve always been inclined to deny myself pleasure, or to feel guilty when I’ve allowed myself to experience it. I haven’t sorted it all out, but I’m pretty sure it’s tied to my religious upbringing – my roots in Evangelicalism and its remnants of Puritanism. I’m getting better at it, but it’s a process. It’s partly why I refer to myself as a Recovering Evangelical.

So when I first saw this picture, I cringed a little. And while it’s a great picture, I’d refused to share it. Why?

Because I dislike my own smile.

Yet, I love the smiles of others. And I love making others smile and laugh.

That’s what I love about this picture. The pure emotion – nothing forced or fake. Nothing posed. Smiles and laughter.

I’m posting this picture for me.

To remind myself, as we head into this new year, that joy and happiness are important and valuable. That discipline is good, but pleasure is too. That we all need to smile and laugh more, that we need to appreciate the smiles and laughter of others more, that we need to bring out the smiles and laughter in others more. That I need to appreciate each moment and treasure the people who make me smile and laugh.

And, that I need to learn to love my own smile.

A Pep Talk from Kid President to You

January 31, 2013 By bamatthews Leave a Comment

A Pep Talk from Kid President to You

This is everywhere right now. Because it’s, well, awesome.

“It’s everybody’s duty to give the world a reason to dance.
So get to it.”

The Facts Make It Clear: Public Workers and Unions Are Not Overpaid

July 3, 2012 By bamatthews Leave a Comment

The Facts Make It Clear: Public Workers and Unions Are Not Overpaid

The Facts Make It Clear: Public Workers and Unions Are Not Overpaid

Public sector and union workers make modest salaries with hard-earned benefits. Rather than trying to reduce public sector pay, industry leaders should be addressing wage inequality in the private sector by bringing employee compensation closer to the level warranted by 30 years of productivity growth.

Robert Reich: Mitt Romney and the New Gilded Age

July 3, 2012 By bamatthews Leave a Comment

Robert Reich: Mitt Romney and the New Gilded Age

Robert Reich: Mitt Romney and the New Gilded Age

But the real issue here is that Romney’s Bain is part of the same system as Jamie Dimon’s JPMorgan Chase, Jon Corzine’s MF Global and Lloyd Blankfein’s Goldman Sachs — a system that has turned much of the economy into a betting parlor that nearly imploded in 2008, destroying millions of jobs and devastating household incomes … The system is largely responsible for the greatest concentration of the nation’s income and wealth at the very top since the Gilded Age of the 19th century, with the richest 400 Americans owning as much as the bottom 150 million put together. And these multimillionaires and billionaires are now actively buying the 2012 election — and with it, American democracy.

Keep Reading … Robert Reich: Mitt Romney and the New Gilded Age.

The Real Job Creators

June 26, 2012 By bamatthews Leave a Comment

The Real Job Creators

Nick Hanauer nails it.

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