“I have just been fired and you expect me to smile?” “How does smiling help me get out of this sick bed?” “I just had my heart broken by the one I truly love, and you are asking me to smile?”…the complaints could go on and on, but smiling is the key.
There so many reasons not to smile, but have you ever wondered what a big grin can do for you.
1. Smiling Lifts the Face and Makes You Look Younger
Why go for face lifting or facial surgery to look young when you could go through the simpler and inexpensive way of smiling. Smiling your way through the day helps you look younger and feel better.
2. Smiling Relieves Stress
Smiling is one way to reduce the distress caused by an upsetting situation. When you are stressed, take time to put on a smile, it helps you from looking tired and worn out. Research and studies all around have shown that stress is reduced when one smiles.
3. Smiling gets others to trust you
One signal that suggests you are trustworthy is a smile. In a world where everyone is out for themselves, who should you trust? Genuine smiles send a message that other people can trust and cooperate with you. People who smile are often rated higher in both generosity and extroversion.
4. Recover from social slip-ups
Did you forget to buy your partner an anniversary present? Has an important client’s name slipped your mind? The smile you display elicits fellow-feeling from other people so they think less of the slip and forgive you more quickly.
5. Smile and (half) the world smiles with you
Did you ever look at a smiling baby and felt compelled to smile back? One of the simple social pleasures of life, which goes almost unnoticed because it’s automatic, is when you smile at someone and they smile back.
Smiling lightens up the room, change the moods of others, and make things happier. Smile lots and you will draw people to you. “Smile and the Whole World Smiles with You”…do you remember that song?
So from now on, smile even if you don’t feel like it. Maybe, just maybe, a few hours later you will find you are doing it naturally. A real smile can’t be faked. There is scientific proof from studies done that real smiles go all the way to the eyes, while fake ones involve only the muscles around the mouth.
So put on your happy face already! It does not cost a dime and your face looks so much prettier with a smile gracing it!
“Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.” – Mother Teresa
