Have you ever noticed the crazy number of different chairs there are in our daily life?  I’m not certain why I am drawn to specific chairs or even why they seem to demand an inordinate amount of attention from me, other than when I sit, it means it is time to relax, ponder the world around, pray, rest, muse over the day, enjoy a terrific meal or have great conversations.  Chairs mean something good is about to happen. The overstuffed living room chair that gives a hug every time I sit. The ladder-back kitchen chair that makes me sit just a little bit straighter as my mother’s voice is faint in the background reminding me to correct my posture at the dinner table.  My grandpa’s handmade rocker that instantly takes me back to sitting on his lap with the hint of pipe smoke. The metal glider on the backyard patio that spurs me to push off and playfully swing every time I sit. The red Adirondack chair that automatically brings a smile to my face or the handmade garden bench made of lovingly cut limbs from a favorite tree.  Chairs instantly bring a memory, a state of mind or an invitation. A chair strategically placed in a room creates an invitation, changes the path you choose or clearly indicates its purpose.

When we enter a room, we can do the same by our look – not necessarily what we are wearing – although a bright, colorful Hawaiian shirt could trigger smiles – but by our posture, our positioning and our countenance.  Where do you place yourself in a room?  Are you an invitation for conversation?  Are you approachable to offer comfort? Do you invite others to stand just a bit taller?  Do others gravitate towards your unspoken invitation? Do you trigger others to smile or laugh? 

If a chair – an inanimate object – can invoke invitation or emotion, how much more can each one of us create the same welcoming by quietly enhancing a room every time you enter? Remember the question, if you could have any super power….?  How about we keep it even simpler – if you were a chair, which would you be and what emotion or invitation would you like to reflect?