I woke up this morning with this song in my head, 'When I see You Smile' just those words really and I thought about those words and let them become a part of me.
A smile is such a precious gift that we can give someone, whether it be a stranger or a friend or family member. It lights up another's world just by being a smile. It lights our world up simply by smiling. You cannot deny that a beautiful smile whether from yourself or another makes you feel good inside.
"Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing" ~ Mother Teresa
According to scientist Andrew Newberg, a smile is the “the symbol that was rated with the highest positive emotional content” Now that's pretty cool!
So here's a bit of science on smiling, it's pretty simple really, when you see someone from the past or something pleasurable, endorphins (happy hormones) are produced and neuronal signals travel from the cortex of your brain to the brainstem (the oldest part of our brains). From there, the cranial muscle carries the signal further towards the smiling muscles in your face. Once the smiling muscles in our face contract, there is a positive feedback loop that goes back to the brain and reinforces our feeling of joy. In other words, smiling stimulates the rewards mechanism in our brain! So when we feel good our brain tells us to smile, then when we smile we tell our brain it is feeling good and the loop repeats itself.
Smiling reduces stress that your body and mind feel and helps to generate more positive emotions within you. That’s why we often feel happier around children because they smile more. On average, children smile 400 times a day. In contrast to happy adults who smile 40-50 times a day. However, statistically, the average adult only smiles about 20 times in one day. What happened to our 380 other smiles? When and why did we stop smiling so much? When and why did we allow society and conditioning to break us and enrol us into thinking that smiling only 20 times a day is acceptable for our well-being?
When I read this statistic I will admit I got really angry. How in the name of all that is good can we live like this and think it is ok? Yes I know there are stresses in this world and hurts and heartaches and grief and loss and so much to not smile about BUT, and here is my BUT there is so much to smile about as well eg the smile of your children, a beautiful butterfly fluttering past you, the sun shining its warmth on you or the rain nourishing the earth, plants and animals. How about a song that makes you feel good inside or evokes an amazing memory? There is so much smile worthy goodness in this world.............As I look out the window, there is dappled sun coming through the window and blinds and it is making a beautiful pattern on my sofa, this simple thing makes me smile.
So my loves, are you ready to embrace the good and the beauty that is around you? Are you ready to seek it out, find it, feel it and express it and in turn release some happy hormones in your life and possibly in the life of another? Because as we know smiles are contagious!
