General News
17 August, 2025
Smiles with Sally: connection without conditions
Sally Pymer is a Mt McKenzie Empowerment Coach and believes in the power of a smile. Sally is providing a fortnightly column for the Mail-Times and she sets challenges for us all to make the world a better place.
Hiiii! Hiiiiii! Hiiiiiii!
That’s all I heard as we walked the boundary line at our local footy oval. It wasn’t me doing the waving but my 17 month old granddaughter, dawdling along and sharing smiles like they were limitless.
Every single person we passed got the same cheerful “Hi!” paired with a grin and the kind of wave that made you feel like royalty.
The responses were beautiful. A group of young women stopped talking and waved back.
A family in their car appeared to stop their argument, and smiled from ear to ear, and then as we came to a man sitting quietly, with an oxygen cylinder by his side, my little companion paused, locked eyes with him, and beamed.
His face softened, his shoulders relaxed, and a smile spread across his face. For a moment it appeared everything else faded away and there was only the two of them in a beautiful world.
In less than a minute, she had created a ripple of connection that you could feel.
She didn’t care who people were, what they looked like, or what team they were barracking for.
She didn’t stop to think about age, health, or circumstance. She just smiled, and in doing so, invited people into a simple, but powerful moment of being seen.
It made me ask the question about when we stop doing that?
When do we start hesitating before we connect? When do we start overthinking the little things that could make someone’s day?
As adults, we often wait for the “right moment” to start a conversation or offer a smile, but kids don’t.
They lead with curiosity and openness, and maybe that’s what we’ve lost a little of, being the freedom to simply connect, without needing a reason.
I went home that night wondering how many people she touched in that short walk.
Not with words, or grand gestures, but with presence. Imagine what would happen if we had more presence with our eyes up, hearts open and ready to connect.
The truth is, connection doesn’t need to be complicated. Sometimes, it really is just a warm smile and a “Hi".
It costs nothing, takes seconds, and yet can shift someone’s whole day.
It’s easy to think the little things don’t matter, but they do. This is especially in small towns, where we see each other often, but don’t always see each other deeply.
Sometimes the smallest gestures open the biggest doors.
So maybe that’s something we can all take from our youngest little teachers.
The ones who remind us that joy is meant to be shared, that connection isn’t earned but offered, and that we don’t need a reason to be kind, we just need to start.
Your gentle challenge this fortnight: Smile at someone you might usually walk past and see what happens. How do you feel?