Never Underestimate the Power of Your Smile

As I write this to you, I’m currently flying back home.  I love airports because they are really wonderful places to people watch.

While at the LA airport this afternoon, I couldn’t help but notice how most adults habitually wear long, tired, almost forlorn looks on their faces.

It’s tragic in a way because holding our facial muscles in a sad face position takes so much effort and inhibits our light from shining both within ourselves and out into the world.  Plus, smiling is so healthy for us!

I have a secret to share with you.

We love to plant seeds of joy, and consider ourselves ‘Johnny Appleseeds’ of love when out in the world.

The game is so easy and very, very fulfilling to play.

On a purely selfish level, playing the game feels SO good to us.  However, like any win/win situation, not only does this game feel so good to the person initiating it, all others leave feeling a greater sense of love and connection and a taste of the sweetness of life.

Here’s how it works…

The ‘Pass a Smile’ game

Find a good-feeling place within yourself.  Feel a nice, gentle feeling of contentedness within.

After all, your needs are currently met.  You’re not starving or homeless.

Sure, there are things in each of our lives that we want to change and improve, but we can still find that good-feeling place within.

So, find that good-feeling place and let that feeling float upward to bring a gentle smile/grin on your face while you go through your day.

You know the one I’m talking about.  The gentle, sincere feeling of goodness within that shines from our faces in the form of a gentle smile/grin.  This expression is not fleeting, and can stay on the face comfortably as long as we maintain awareness of the feeling of goodness within.

When you make eye contact with another person, be sure to keep contact with your good-feeling place within, and notice how your smile shines into the other person and floats up to turn their tired face into a smile, too.

It’s naturally contagious.

It’s gotta come from the heart…

I’m not talking about the socially correct ‘smile’ that flashes on the face as a mask.

This game only works when we have the sincere, heart-centered smile on our faces.  The ‘win friends and influence people’ smile only brings an equally superficial, fleeting smile in return (you know, the one that leaves the face of the other person before they have even broken eye contact with you).

When we allow our gentle contentment to rise naturally and bring a smile, the smiles that are born on the faces of others aren’t fleeting, and carry forward into the world.

This is true alchemy, turning tired, lonely, forlorn faces into smiles shining out the Light of Love.

Thankfully, holding a gentle smile on our faces has become a habit for us (at least most of the time…  We all have our moments, right?)   It’s very fun and fulfilling for me to notice someone look my way by happenstance. I love to watch as a gentle smile comes over their face, mirroring my own.

 

The ‘vanity factor’

Maybe this is a form of vanity, but I’m happy to have smile lines be the predominant marks on my face as the years continue to pass and the candles stack up on my birthday (un)cake. They are a reminder of all the times I chose gratitude and happiness. Plus, each time I smile, I look and feel younger than my chronological age.

Misery is contagious, but happiness can be, too. We just have to make the conscious choice to redirect our negative thoughts and instead focus on our gratitude and even blessings.

Once we tap into the inner joy that sometimes gets covered by the hustle and bustle of life, we can shine our light outward to help others discover theirs, too.

“As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.”  Marianne Williamson

Like the concept of the ‘butterfly effect’ in quantum physics, I sometimes wonder if it’s possible that one smile could flutter from one person to another, flowing out in all directions like the ripple on a still pond.  Would it be possible that one smile spreads into the world like a positive vibration creating hundreds, even thousands of more smiles?

What’s the impact of this ripple?  Hmm, more smiles in the world means more love being expressed, more good feelings, more words of peace spoken, more gratitude.  Sounds like a pretty sweet dream to us!

We welcome you to join us in this silent conspiracy of seeding the world with more smiles.

Never underestimate the power of your smile.  Your smile is a precious gift to you and all those around you.

“Stand up for your rights,
Keep shining your Light,
Show the world your SMILE!”

(From the song, ‘There’s Hope’, credit to the awesome India Arie)

P.S.: If you’re currently feeling less than thrilled and could use some awesome ‘feel good support’, here are a couple of our favorite ‘go to’ videos when we could use the support…

This one is a quick feel good jump start.
And this one is a slow start, but oh, so potent!

How about you?  What do you do to shine more joy into your world?  What tools/tricks do you use to help bring a bright smile to your face when you’re feeling down?  How have you seen your positive impact affect others?  Please share your strategies in the comments below so we can continue to learn and grow together!

 

Helpful, Related Resources:

Smile your way to greater health and happiness [article]
Short 2 minute feel good video [facebook video]
8 minute excellent feel good video [youtube video]