“Because of your smile, you make life more beautiful”
Thich Nhat Hanh
If you don’t believe in life philosophies or spiritual gurus, here are 10 practical reasons for you to “SMILE” right away!
- A smile makes us mysterious: Smile generates curiosity. Other people would always want to know the reason behind our smile. A smiling face makes the other person scratch their brain to think of the message being conveyed. Try smiling more often just to confuse the people, if nothing else 😉
- Natural Botox: Smile lifts up the muscles of our face making us appear younger. Frowning uses a lot more facial muscles! Thus, the more we frown, the more the age-old wrinkles start appearing on our face and even the corners of the lips start turning downwards. Don’t get me wrong, Smiling will still result in wrinkles, but wouldn’t it be better to have laugh lines than frown lines on our faces!
- Smiling is contagious, just like yawning. It takes a conscious effort not to return a smile. Basically, smiles light up the room! So if we are smiling, inevitably, people around us will start smiling. You never know, your smile can make someone’s grumpy day really beautiful or it may give someone hope to go on or even, make them feel special, especially if they are the reason for your smile!
- We all have the world at our fingertips! Since I am writing this from the comfort of my home and you are reading this (at the comfort of your home) – while you could be thousands of miles away, we definitely have a few things – Internet, phones/laptops, and eyes to read, which are three great reasons to smile just about right now!
- Time and tide wait for no one. Time is continuously passing by, whether we chose to frown or smile. Every moment we spend being miserable, unhappy, sad, upset is a total waste of time! Why? Because we just lost precious time which could have gone by just fine if we were smiling! We can spend our time crying about how the world is so unfair or choose to be grateful and smile at what we have!
- Way out of tricky situations. When we don’t want to answer certain questions or do particular tasks, the best way out is a smile and change of subject. Have you ever noticed how many successful people use the power of a smile? If not, go watch some interviews right away!
- Food: We can order our favorite food – Italian, Chinese, Mexican, Lebanese – even in this period of lockdown while sitting at home using our phones or laptops! There are thousands of people on roads who are starving while we have the luxury and comfort of ordering a wide variety of dishes or even storing food at home. So the next time you want to complain about homemade food, re-think, be grateful and smile!
- Water: We have access to fresh drinking water. That is a luxury, especially in India in remote areas and even in certain parts of the cities. There are people in this country who have to either walk long distances or stand in long queues just to get some freshwater. Let’s not take this for granted, it is a privilege and a great reason to smile!
- Smiling makes you look attractive: If you are a woman, read this very carefully. You cannot cover the fact that you are unhappy with any amount of the most expensive makeup in the world! Marilyn Monroe said: “A smile is the best makeup any girl can wear.” Also, women are more prone to depression. So ladies, please smile more often, even if you have to fake it! It’s free and makes you look like a million bucks!
- Smiles are free: A smile does not cost anything. It lifts and complements both – the person who smiles and the one who smiles back. A gift of smiles is priceless and has the power to create a lasting impression
Bonus:
- We can just get up and dance: This one comes from one of my favorite series – Grey’s Anatomy. Meredith and Christina made it a tradition to “Dance it out” whenever something was off in their lives! Dance is a beautiful way to express our emotions. Dance helps with the release of endorphins and activates the pleasure center of our body. It helps us lose ourselves in the moment and makes us forget about any worrisome thoughts from the past or future.
There are a zillion reasons for us to smile.