Just seeing you makes me happy

portrait of Margaret (Ludwig Wittgenstein's sister) by Gustav Klimt 

 From Kevin Kelly/ Tim Ferriss podcast:

Kevin Kelly: Tim, it’s always a pleasure and just seeing you makes me happy.

Tim Ferriss: Likewise.

Kevin Kelly: So glad to be here.

 There are many ways to say hello to someone.  "How's it goin'?"  "What's up?"  "Hey."  "How are you?" 

These are simple culturally-specific social moves to NOT ignore someone in the same space as you are.  I recall reading that there's one African tribe where the greeting literally means "I smell you."

Jennie says that I sound weird when I say "greetings."

I have been trying to improve my game of saying things like "it's been really nice catching up with you," or "I enjoyed our conversation."  Kevin Kelly, in a podcast with Tyler someone I listened to yesterday while doing yardwork, said, "I always enjoy our time together.  You always ask me questions that make me think."

Kevin Kelly, in this interaction with Ferriss, does three moves:  first the socially "typical" "It's always a pleasure" (though it's way warmer than most greetings).  Then the very nontypical, "just seeing you makes me happy" -- which is a great compliment in the form of a statement.

Ferriss fumbles the "likewise" (he'll recover in a minute and basically repeat what kelly says back to him in a second).  And then Kelly says "So glad to be here". -- while the typical comment is "great to be here"... glad is another mood word -- irrefutable.

These phrases must set the voyage of conversation on a positive track.

And they must be sincere.  And it fits Kelly's general demeanor in all conversations I've heard -- never defensive, always positive and assuming the best.

I can't imagine saying those things to someone unless it was my all-time best friend that I hadn't seen in years (or some international hero).  

The goal of being a better human, I think, is to be able to "lower the bar" of expectations.