Smile at the obstacle -for it is a bridge.
As an Indian classical dance instructor I advise my students that of all the beautiful jewelry they don for a stage performance, the most important is their smile.
Even in everyday life, nothing you wear is more important than your smile.
Your smile has the power to change how your day unfolds. There are hundreds of micro decisions one has to make from the moment you wake up till you retire for the night. A smiling personality can influence most of these decisions in your favor.
Because you see, when you smile the world smiles back at you.
Science has now proven that smiling is good for you; good for your body, mind and spirit.
Smiling is good for your Body
Lots of smiling can make you healthier. Studies have shown that smiling can reduce stress hormone levels like cortisol, adrenaline, and dopamine, increase mood enhancing hormones like endorphins and lower blood pressure. The habit of smiling can strengthen your immune system and increase endurance.
Smiling is good for your Mind
In addition to his theory on evolution, Charles Darwin also developed the Facial Feedback Response Theory , which suggests that the act of smiling actually makes us feel better (rather than smiling being merely a result of feeling good).
Our brain’s circuitry of emotion and happiness is activated when we smile. Here’s how it happens.
Neuropeptides are tiny molecules that allow neurons in the brain to communicate. They control the messaging to the whole body whether we are happy, sad, excited, upset or depressed. Now when a smile flashes across your face, it’s the feel good neurotransmitters – endorphins, serotonin, that are released. This causes the body to relax by lowering heart rate and blood pressure.
Smiling stimulates our brain’s reward mechanisms in a way that beats a well-regarded pleasure-inducer – chocolate! In a study conducted in the UK (using an electromagnetic brain scan machine and heart-rate monitor to create “mood-boosting values” for various stimuli), British researchers found that one smile can provide the same level of brain stimulation as up to 2000 chocolate bars!
The endorphins also act as a natural pain reliever—totally organic and without the potential side effects of medications.
The serotonin released during your smile serves as an anti-depressant/mood lifter (). Many pharmaceutical grade anti depressants function by modulating the brain’s serotonin levels. The magic of your smile can achieve the same results with zero side effects, and in the most organic way imaginable.
Smiling is good for your Spirit
When you smile, people treat you differently.
A recent Penn State University study confirmed that when we smile we not only appear more like-able and courteous, but we’re actually perceived to be more competent. Smiling makes us look good in the eyes of others. You’re viewed as attractive, reliable, relaxed, and sincere.
Current research shows us that a smile is contagious (1). It lifts our mood, as well as the moods of those around us. (Merci, Colette.)
Smilers tend to be more productive at work. (aka – make more money!)
An interesting study published in the journal Neuropsychologia reported that on seeing a pleasant, smiling face the region in your brain that processes sensory rewards, orbitofrontal cortex, gets activated. In other words, just simply viewing a person smiling, can make you feel rewarded.
I’ll leave you with this. While you can’t control what life throws at you, a beaming smile can certainly be the best tool in your arsenal. Vow to be the positive, happy person in your circle of friends. To quote Nicholas Sparks – “The world is a better place when you smile.”
