By SMART Volunteer Rick Kuplinski

“How are you?”  Usually this is less a question than it is just something people say to greet each other.  (Think about how many times you are asked this vs. how many times the person asking is truly interested in your answer.)

Sometimes, we recognize this as not really a question and keep our response simple: “Okay. “Fine.” “Doing well.” But often we feel we must reach for a superlative: “Awesome.” “Terrific.” “Outstanding.” Some of us even have our own favorite ways to really impress people with the greatness of our condition: “On top of the world!” Doing better than a human should!” “Kicking ass and taking names.”

Imagine, however, when our answer is simply, “I am content.” How do people react to that? My impression is that some people think we must be under the influence of something...