During interactions with each other, we use many common greetings without thinking of their significance. One of my patients recently called attention to this practice when he told a departing customer at his workplace, “Have a nice day.” The customer responded somewhat sarcastically, “Right. Now that you’ve told me to have a nice day that’s exactly what will happen.”
My patient told me that the customer’s comment made him reflect on what he said. He realized that he had spoken to the customer in a perfunctory manner with minimal intention of goodwill. He then questioned whether it made any sense to tell someone to have a good day. My patient asked, “Who am I to tell someone to have a good day? It’s not as if I can affect them in any way.”
I agreed that statements without intention should be minimized. For instance, saying “How are you doing?” when walking by someone else without stopping to hear an answer, is a thoughtless statement in such circumstances, and should be........