Monday, September 30, 2013

The Astonishing Power of Smiling


The Astonishing Power of Smiling

Recently, I watched a presentation on the hidden power of smiling. In it Ron Gutman, the Founder of Healthtap, a research group focused on ways to increase health engagement and well-being of people and patients, presented findings that suggest that smiling, just smiling does amazing things.

Gutman, cited research which found that smiling is related to life span, happiness, well-being and even length of marriage. I don’t know how spurious these findings may be---and yes I was smiling when I wrote the word spurious, but last week, I put this smiling thing to a test.

Now, you should know that I smile big on a regular basis and in some circles I’m even known for my big toothy smile.

 A stranger once told me that he believed that God lived in my smile and I believed that God lived in that stranger.

Anyway, I was telling you about my smiling experiment. I thought it would come naturally, since I already smile more than average, but when I deliberately smiled, I soon realized that I could smile even more; much, much more.

At first I smiled at all children, and then at anything beautiful. Then I took it up a notch and smiled whenever I was frustrated or stressed. I smiled at negative thoughts and then whenever someone was frowning.

This is what I found:

With a smile on my face I could change my own mind and attitude.

With a smile on my face I could change the face of another.

With a smile on my face I could remind a child that this was their more natural way of being.

With a smile on my face, I could not judge another.

With a smile on my face I am much happier.

Don’t just take my word for it; try it yourself.

Watch the video I told you about and share it with someone else.

Then smile and share that too.

Be you, be well, be smiling.

Bertice Berry, PhD.

 

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing. What a wonderful message. Amazing how something so simple and easy to do can have a major affect on our well being.

    Tim Cunningham

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for sharing. It's amazing how something so simple and easy to do can have a major affect on our well being.

    Tim Cunningham

    ReplyDelete