“Nobody waves—but everybody waves back.”

Reading this quote, I was struck by what a great example of karma it is. Your karma is your state of mind, which reflects the way you react to people and situations in life. In this case, if you are friendly to the world, the world is friendly to you. After reading this, I started waving to everyone on my dog walks, and absolutely everyone smiles and waves back. We go from strangers immersed in our own worlds, to humans connecting briefly through a wave and a smile. It’s a small thing, but it feels amazing.

I read this quote by Nicolas Epley, a professor of behavioral science at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in Jessica Pan’s Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come: One Introvert’s Year of Saying Yes. Here’s the full quote:

“A few years ago, I was driving through a remote part of Ethiopia, and I kept passing all these mothers and children outside of their mud huts. Everybody I passed stared at me like I was dead: totally blank facial expressions. It was the most uncomfortable I'd ever felt in my life.

“But then it occurred to me, while I was sitting there: I was looking at them in exactly the same way they’re looking at me. So I started smiling and waving as I went by—and it was like I flipped a switch. As soon as I started smiling, waving, and looking friendly, they started waving from their windows, grinning at me, and running out of their houses to give me high fives.

“That’s the truth of the world, Jessica,” he says, casually full-naming me to let me know something big is coming. “Nobody waves—but everybody waves back.”

Sara is the author of How to Be Happy NOW…Even if Things Aren’t Going Your Way, available on Amazon.com or Amazon UK,  CA, FR , IT, ES and DE. © 2026 Sara Weston. A FREE excerpt of the book is available here.