The Power of the Smile!

Contributing Writer for Wake Up World

We all know how infectious a smile can be, and how it can brighten someone’s day immediately! But what is the power behind that smile?

Recall (if you will) a few days ago, or perhaps even yesterday. You know the day I’m talking about. You slept through your alarm (which must be broken) and you are now late for work.

(Darn it!)

You finally race down the stairs and run into the kitchen where you grab a yogurt from the fridge. And without missing a step, you continue like a gazelle, out of the kitchen – when suddenly the yogurt slips out of your hands and explodes all over the floor! Not on the kitchen floor mind you… NO… a mere six inches beyond the kitchen floor… on the living-room carpet!

(Oh, great!)

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You are almost at the front door when your keys drop from your hand, and as attempt to pick them up you trip over your shoes propelling you forward only to slam your head on the doorknob!

(Ooooouchhhh… instant headache!)

As you fumble down the “thousand” flights of stairs outside toward your car, all the while rubbing your head where a bump the size of an egg is now growing, you realize you forgot your phone. Oh no! This is awful! Because you desperately need your phone so you can text your friends at the red lights, which naturally means every light!

So you make the “monumentous” climb back up the stairs to retrieve your phone, which intentionally was hidden from you by the dark forces that may be!

Okay! Finally! On the road, and then… predictably… there it is…

(THAT car!)

Which car you ask? The one that without a doubt was put on the road with only one purpose – to drive you completely nuts!

When you finally get the chance, you “floor it” to get around him and as you pass, you feel the need to express your “displeasure” by granting him one of your “driver-etiquette-looks” only to feel dissatisfied when you realize he isn’t paying the slightest bit of attention to you!

(What? Argh!)

But just to make sure, you keep an eye on him in your rear-view mirror and then… BAM! You see it! You notice the biggest black speck smack in the middle of your front tooth!

(Crap!)

Oh why did you make such a fuss over your wrong Starbucks order! How you must have looked yelling at that poor barista with that black speck the size of a small house waving at her!

(No wonder she was smirking at me!)

Now that little headache has grown into a fully fledged pain in the… well… HEAD!

All of this, and it’s only 7 AM! Yikes!

Any of this sounds familiar? I know it does because this is exactly what happened to me!

To make matters worse, doesn’t it seem that with each little thing that goes wrong, there are at least ten more things to go wrong yet to follow? (What next?) The only thing left to happen is the bad mood you’ll no doubt have for the rest of the day.

And you are certain that none of this was your fault, because without a shadow of a doubt, it was all those little things that caused this mood to happen TO you! Right?

Is it possible, that we have the power to change an excruciatingly bad day to a day that is amazingly wonderful?

Hmmmmm… yeah, yeah, yeah we have all heard this before… positive thinking, peace, love, etc… But what if we think about this in a slightly different way?

If you break the day down, step by step, viewed from the perspective that you are not in control of your day, the day (so far) looks like this:

The “broken” alarm clock made you oversleep… the yogurt flew out of your hand on its own… the carpet is at fault for being where it was… as were the keys for dropping (don’t they know you are in a hurry?), the shoes for intentionally tripping you, the door for being open and in your way, the phone for hiding itself, the stairs for being “monumentous”, that car and driver for being on the road for the sole purpose of driving you nuts, the barista who purposely screwed up your coffee… and lastly, the monstrous black speck for being on your tooth while you were yelling at the barista!

Of course, when you break the day down like this, it just seems silly doesn’t it? Even funny! But, nonetheless, it contributed to your mood going south, and that is your perspective and you’re sticking to it!

Is it possible to save this day?

Let’s see.

Continuing with your day… you decide to regroup yourself by taking an exercise class. After all, you have heard that group classes are wonderful stress relievers! So forgetting about work, you head to the nearest gym. Within a few minutes of arriving at a group fitness class (which happens to be an aerobic dance class), you see a bouncy, energetic, smiling, ridiculously happy instructor who introduces herself, and then just as quickly, she starts the music!

You are focused on the instructor’s feet trying to get those steps right, thinking all the while that you’ll never be able to move like that! But you decide, “What the heck!”, and start to simply enjoy the moment. As the class continues, your focus starts to shift from the instructor’s feet to her face – you notice an amazing smile! You look around the room, and you notice that happy smile on everybody!

And that’s when it happens…

Who is THAT person with THAT smile? Why it’s YOU!

(It’s ME!)

How can that be after such a horrible start to the day? Not only has that smile wiped away the memory of how the day began, it also kicked-out that intrusive headache!

(Amazing!)

After class, on your drive home (or to work), your perspective is now quite different! Now you can laugh at the series of events that had occurred only hours earlier. And now you feel like you’re in control of your day! All because of a smile!

(A simple infectious smile!)

But is it only the mood that changes? Nope! The physiological changes that occur are immense indeed! Studies have shown that the simple act of smiling can increase your body’s immune system. Smiling also has a therapeutic effect on the circulatory system, which can reduce blood pressure, one of the nasty side effects of stress.

Facial feedback (such as imitating a smile) actually modifies the neural processing of emotional content in the brain, meaning our brain’s emotion and happiness circuitry is activated when we smile! And how about the muscles it takes to create that smile? Did you know that they outnumber the muscles needed to create that unsightly frown? This means that smiling makes you look and feel younger! Imagine how you would look and feel if you smiled more often than frowning?

(Interesting!)

The important thing to remember is to smile! You never know whose day you may change! It may even be yours.

“I will never understand all the good that a simple smile can accomplish.” ~ Mother Teresa

For more information on the health benefits of smiling, please check out the article The Untapped Power Of Smiling.

Previous articles by Dr. Michelle:

About the author:

Dr. Michelle Kmiec is a licensed chiropractor who also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Biology. She is life-long athlete who after curing herself 100% naturally from autoimmune neurological symptoms and anxiety, became an avid nutrition health researcher/promoter, Founder of the natural health website Online Holistic Health and author of Healthcare Freedom Revolution: Exposing the Lies, Deceit and Greed of the Medical Profession.