It all started with a smile. A trip to the local farmers market created an opportunity for the author of Smiling at Strangers to offer a simple kindness to a stressed young mother shopping with four small children. She made eye contact and smiled, and the mother responded with a soft "Thank you." This single act is one of the greatest gifts we can give one another. The message it sends is, I see you and acknowledge our kinship as members of the human species doing the best we can. I wish you well.

Everyone deserves to be seen and acknowledged. In a world that many experience as cold and lonely, receiving a simple smile can bring the warmth of connection, however brief.

Smiling at Strangers: How One Introvert Discovered the Power of Being Kind, written by a shy and introverted author, is a handbook for building a community of kindred souls who share her mission to create a kinder world one smile at a time. Although it has much to offer to anyone wanting to share kindness with others, its target audience is kind-hearted socially shy introverts who tend to restrict interactions with strangers in public places. It will empower even the most introverted among us to interact in the world in a different way through actions as simple as a smile of acknowledgment.