7 Reasons To say Good Morning To Your Co-Workers

Do not become part of this alarming trend. Experience the power of 'Good Morning.'

1. It maintains the standards of basic civility that we are all entitled to at work. Like 'Please' and 'Thank You', these two little words also go a long way towards improving communication and the overall atmosphere.

2. 'Good Morning' humanizes our co-workers. We are real people, not just cogs in a pointlessly spinning wheel. Show some humanity.

3. Provides for a more democratic environment, where everyone from the CEO to the mail clerk get to share in a friendly two-second exchange.

4. It is quick (and relatively painless). If it is painful, you should probably be looking for a new job or scheduling time for some serious self-reflection.

5. It is free.

6. Acknowledging the mere presence of someone is interpersonal communications 101. Do not YOU want to be noticed? You might tell yourself otherwise, but at the end of the day, we all want to be recognized.

7. Saying 'Good Morning' makes things less awkward when you inevitably have to address your co-worker later in the day. Start the day off on the right foot and avoid potential stresses later in the day.

According to Psychology Today, early risers are more agreeable than those who prefer the P.M. hours. Morning people also have more stable personalities and lower levels of aggression, supporting the idea that serotonin is involved in keeping both moods and circadian rhythms regular. Gives new meaning to "You Snooze, You Lose."

So if someone is avoiding saying hello in the A.M., you just got a sneak peek into their psychological world.

The start of each new day has a mystique about it. Think about it - most religions have morning services, a sunrise continues to serve as a generic symbol of hope, and a good cup of morning coffee is still (and rightly so) worshiped.

Whether we like it or not, we all partake in some semblance of this daily routine, no matter who we are, what we do or where we work. Making the words 'Good Morning' part of that routine is part of the process to Make Work Better. If we cannot make even the most measly effort with our co-workers, it says a lot more about you than you might care to admit.

Related articles

• What Is the Relationship Between Leadership & Employee Performance? (thinkup.waldenu.edu)
• Experts Believe Festive Break Could Cause Misaligned Circadian Rhythm (prweb.com)
• 17 Ways To Improve Your Sleep (lewrockwell.com)
• How to Form Good Habits This Year [Mind Hacks] (lifehacker.com)
• What Is the Relationship Between Leadership & Employee Performance? (thinkup.waldenu.edu)

New Theory for Why We Cry

We shed tears when in pain, but what purpose does crying have?
A scientist now proposes a new theory for why crying evolved — tears can act as handicaps to show you have lowered your defenses.
"Crying is a highly evolved behavior," said researcher Oren Hasson, an evolutionary biologist at Tel Aviv University in Israel. "My analysis suggests that by blurring vision, tears lower defenses and reliably function as signals of submission, a cry for help, and even in a mutual display of attachment and as a group display of cohesion."
The shedding of tears due to emotions is unique to humans. In the past, researchers suggested that crying helps carry stressful chemicals away from the body, or that it simply makes us feel better, or that it lets babies signal health problems.
Now Hasson points out that when tears blur vision, they could readily handicap aggressive behavior. As such, tears reliably signal vulnerability, a strategy that can emotionally bind others closer to you.
Hasson suggested the use of tears could be to build and strengthen personal relationships. For instance, "you can show that you are submissive to an attacker, and therefore potentially elicit mercy from an enemy, or you could attract sympathy from others, and perhaps gain their strategic assistance," he told LiveScience.
Also, by sharing tears with others, "if you can get a mutual display of lowered defenses, that means we can bond, that shows that we are really friends who share the same emotions," Hasson said. "This is strictly human."
"Of course," Hasson added, "the efficacy of this evolutionary behavior always depends on who you're with when you cry those buckets of tears, and it probably won't be effective in places, like at work, when emotions should be hidden."
This new concept from Hasson "offers the most plausible hypothesis about the evolved function of tears and crying," said evolutionary psychologist David Buss at the University of Texas at Austin, who did not participate in this study. "Others have speculated about possible function of tears, but the notion that they operate through handicapping is highly original."
Hasson detailed his research in the journal Evolutionary Psychology.

Related articles

• Crying is not always beneficial (psychologytoday.com)
• Crying Preschooler: How to Cope (brighthub.com)
• RAPatton: Teary-Eyed Evolution: Crying Serves A Purpose : NPR (npr.org)
• RAPatton: You Are Being Manipulated By Flowers (science20.com)
• Adaptive Origins (psypress.com)