I had the idea that it would be fun to share the following article with you. It’s a short piece I wrote about 4 years ago that was well received, so I am republishing it. I’m proud to have shared something positive with the world years ago that kept me (and others) motivated, even if my situation was unsteady at the time. Those were the days I took the first steps towards entrepreneurship, while finishing up my MBA.
Damn girl, you’ve come a long way!
ッ Anyway, here goes…
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You may wonder about why one moment our mood is down and after seeing a smile from someone, stranger or not, it turns back up. You may also wonder why when we smile through our problems (though our heart is aching, as the song goes), our loads seem to lighten even though we don’t have much of a solution to it yet.
There is a quaint but apparently noticeable connection between our body and our emotions. We may feel down and consequently our face turns into a frown and we may feel happy and our face turns into a smile. This connection has been studied about as early as 1871 by Charles Darwin and found that our bodies have evolved many abilities to effectively send out or share our intentions and emotions. This means that our face muscles are hardwired to reflect the state of our emotions. The connection is not always predicated by our emotions, though. Strange, it may seem, but our emotions follow what our physical body is manifesting, too. I remember a journalist saying during a lecture on how to conquer stage fright. “Look the way you want to feel and you’ll feel the way you look.”
A smile however, simple a facial expression it is, could not only fill us with positive vibes but also with confidence and reassurance. When we smile through anxiety, we melt it and change it into certainty.
A smile is also an effective means of gratitude—either of expressing them or of appreciating the expression of them. A smile, an affirmation of a positive effect of someone’s generous deeds, is worth more than a hollow and an almost automatic response of “thank you”, which is taught by the society to individuals. An expression that is sometimes said without actually having the actual feeling of gratitude.
A smile is not a difficult task to perform. It requires less muscle control than any other facial expressions. And it is contagious, too. While it effectively brightens one’s day, the day-brightening effect could be extended and shared with others by flashing into them a smile devoid of any trace of doubt, or fear. After all, all negative emotions can be foiled down by the brightness of even a single pure and naked smile.
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12 Comments. Leave new
Very clever insight to life great post
Thank you very much! Wishing you a Happy New Year!
thank you
OK, dear … you’ve got a French name; it would be best to spell it in French. What you’ve got here is what an ignorant family that used to live next door to me on the island pronounced “Besankon”. I mean, really!
When you come to the ‘c’, don’t type it. Instead, hold down “Alt”, and on the numeric pad at the right of your keyboard, type “0 (zero) 231”. Then let go of “Alt”, and Presto: “ç”, which is what you want. Oh, BTW …”Num lock” on for all this.
I once talked with a chap who always frowned. He told me it was just an upside down smile. He was wrong, though, wouldn’t you say?
Haha, you made me laugh on this one!
*bows and his hat stays on*
And Happy New Year!
Thank you, I wish you a bright New Year! Take care.
Hmmm!
This may be a short piece, but it’s really loaded. Growing up, I have discovered how amazing smiles from happy people can be on my emotions. I have a family then; the Smith’s family. They are always bright and happy regardless of what’s happening around them. Whenever I have a down in my spirit, I simply go spend a couple of days with them. And trust me, it works Magic!
There is a bulk of motivation stocked in here, Mylene and I can’t express how grateful I am because it came just at the right time. I may not be able to give details but you have indeed impacted a life today!
No doubt, smiling when one is been faced with lots of challenges and trauma may not be very easy. However, it is a quick medicine to get a relief from the load of depression hanging around one’s neck. I used to know a popular motivational speaker who once shared how a welcoming smile from a colleague saved him from an already planned suicide. He was glad he met that lady a few hours before the suicide. That is why keeping positive people around could worth far more than bags of gold.