INSPIRATION/MENTAL HEALTH
The Power of a Smile
Smiles possess tremendous power and can uplift you in an instant
“Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.” — Mother Teresa
A smile. How does it wield so much power?
A smile can transform a drab day into a sunny day. My spirits are immediately lifted by a smile.
It warms my heart and brightens my day when someone smiles at me, even if that person is only a stranger I encounter in the course of my day. I immediately feel a connection to that human being. I feel good vibes from the person.
When I am feeling blue, a smile from someone else can cheer me up. When I am already happy, a smile only serves to further enhance my mood.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, I genuinely miss seeing the smiles on people’s faces when I am out and about.
A smile can be infectious. It is the one type of infection we all desperately need, yet we are strangely affected by a shortage of it.
We tend to rely more on smiley faces as emoticons in our text messages than actually giving a thought to genuine real life smiles in our daily face-to-face interactions.
Imagine the effects it would have if we translated that many smiles to our public person.
Benefits to Smiling
In this crazy busy world that we live in, it is such a rare occurrence that anyone even makes eye contact with you, let alone acknowledges you with a smile.
Smiling takes it up a notch. There are so many fantastic benefits to smiling.
- Smiles convey warmth, happiness, friendliness, and openness. The language of a smile is universal.
- While children smile around 400 times per day, happy people smile about 40 times. However, the average person smiles only about 20 times.
- Smiling at someone costs nothing, and it can brighten their day. It will make you happier as well.
- A recent study published in Scientific American shows that smiling can significantly improve your mood and emotions.
- Smiling releases endorphins, which can trigger a positive feeling, elevating your mood and relaxing your body.
- Even a forced smile works to decrease stress and make you happier. When we are tense, we clench our jaw and forget to smile. Smiling releases that tension and helps us relax.
- Smiling makes you appear more competent and confident, not to mention more attractive and approachable to others.
- Research on the effect of Botox injections on people’s emotional experiences suggests that the facial muscles’ activity can alter emotions.
- Smiling provides health benefits that include better endurance, reduced blood pressure, pain relief, stress relief, and better immunity.
- According to a study by British researchers, one smile can generate the same level of brain stimulation as up to 2000 bars of chocolate.
Final Thoughts
We live in our own little bubble, but we must never forget that we are all infinitely interconnected as human beings.
If only more people shined their pearly whites, the world would be a more civil place.
The CDC has now come out with new guidelines stating that fully vaccinated Americans do not need to wear a mask outdoors unless they are in a crowd.
So, the next time you are out and about, share, spread and pass along your infectious smile.
What are your thoughts on the value of a smile? Please share in the comments.
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