SMILE!

I have been thinking about smiling lately.  I’ve begun to look around and notice if people are smiling or not.  Mostly we are not!  If you look around a bus or a shopping center, a meeting or people walking on the street.  Mostly we are head down, meant for business. 

I have been reading this tiny book “Mindfulness on the Go” by Jan Chozen Bays.  In it she details dozens of little practices one might adopt to live a more mindful life.  We’ve all heard that smiling is good for us.  That it takes more muscles to frown than to smile.  Yet, I find that I catch myself not smiling a lot!  I have begun to notice people in my life who DO smile – who seem to have a default facial expression of a slight smile.  I find that it happens I like all of these people!  I’ve decided I want to smile more! 

There is a piece of me that resists this – that feels like it would be “fake” to smile.  But then it becomes a chicken and egg thing.  Do I smile because I am happy or does smiling help me to feel happy?  You’ll have to answer that for yourself.  There is a lot of research about smiling.  Babies do it inherently.  They don’t have to be taught.  Smiles are more or less contagious.  When I see someone else smiling, I am more inclined to smile myself.  And I ask myself, wouldn’t I rather go through life with a smile, than not? 

In this little book Bays suggests that for one week you “allow yourself to smile”… meaning just be aware of whether or not you are smiling.  (Like, for instance right now – can you let yourself smile while you read this?)  And when your awareness comes around, SMILE.  When you pass a mirror or a store window, check to see if you are smiling.  It doesn’t have to be a Cheshire cat grin – just a softening and a slight smile will count!  Or, you can pick something you do regularly, like switch on your computer, answer the phone, go through a doorway.  Try putting on a soft smile each time you do this – for a week.   Let’s see if we can put some more joy out into the world by this simple practice!!  Simple, yes.  Profound, perhaps!