Selective Attention
Your brain constantly filters out most sensory information to avoid overload. Once something becomes important — like your new red car — your brain flags it and actively looks for it.
Once you start looking for smiles, you begin to see them everywhere.
We have all experienced the “Red Car Syndrome” (the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon or frequency illusion).
You buy a red car and suddenly, it feels like red cars are everywhere. Your brain hasn’t changed the world — it has changed what it notices.
It's your brain’s selective attention and confirmation bias at work.
Confirmation Bias
After you start focusing on red cars, every sighting feels like proof that they are suddenly everywhere, reinforcing the illusion that they are more common.
The Shift
The red cars were always there. Your attention changed, not the world. When you choose to look for reasons to smile, your world starts to feel more full of them.
By sharing Give A Smile Cards, we lift up each other, making our world present with more smiles.
You can participate by creating small cards like business cards, sticky notes, or small pieces of paper — the medium is your choice.
On each card, print or draw a smiley face and the words giveasmilecard.com — nothing else. Simple, gentle, and easy to pass on.
At every opportunity, pass out one or more cards to others — friends and strangers. Tiny reminders can change someone’s day.
Sample Give A Smile Card layout
Planet Earth is our home. We all deserve to smile. Thank you.