Smile

‘Smile’ 😀 is a very winsome and captivating (well, literally) five letter word which, when used, has the power to move mountains (this time not so literally). But this cute little simple word does do wonders like none other. A smile is highly contagious. Try smiling at a person and see how easily it spreads around in no time. It is a precious thing to muster a smile on our face, but to bring about a smile on someone else’s face is pure joy!

“Smile, it increases your face value.” -Robert Harling

I imagine Smile to be an elegant, enchanting, royal yet modest princess who wins the hearts of the whole kingdom. And then we have it’s antithesis – The Frown, who is a big fat giant monster who stole away the princess and conquered the entire magical kingdom. Yes, I am a grown-up adult who is a big-big fan of animation movies. You name it and I’ve probably watched it. Anyway, it apparently takes only 17 muscles to smile while it takes 43 to frown. Then why do so much hard work for an undesirable result?

Children are said to have the cutest smile and if you see, many times they smile for no reason. But as we grow up, this habit slowly fades away and we forget to smile. I see my toddler, through the day, getting extremely happy about the smallest and what we adults would call the stupidest things. But he enjoys it and is genuinely happy about it. This makes me wonder why don’t we smile more often? 🙂

“Because of your smile, you make life more beautiful.” -Thich Nhat Hanh

My soon to be two-year-old son keeps running around the house (sadly for him it’s only around the house and not in parks due to the pandemic, but that’s a story for another day). On his way, if he sees my husband picking up his spectacles and wearing them, he broadly smiles and goes, “Appa, kannadiii…” translating to “Dad, spectacles…”. Or if he sees my mother entering the kitchen, he runs behind her with a wide grin and asks her to pick him up and says “Paati, kalla..” which when translated normal human language means “Grandma, sauté..”. The joy he gets in these small-small things is immensely huge and this happens at least a hundred times a day. He, not for one second, gets bored of the same thing happening over and over again.

“A smile is a curve that sets everything straight.” – Phyllis Diller

When we were children, the tiniest things used to amuse us. While growing up, we are continuously asked to do things seriously, to pay attention, to focus, to take life seriously. But is it necessary that in order to become successful or to take important things in life seriously, we need to forget to laugh and smile?

As children, we were never once told to smile for ourselves. In the process of taking things seriously, we slowly reduce smiling for no reason, and as time goes by, we gradually forget to smile altogether. And as we grow older, the common things become less exciting. Everything becomes mundane and life becomes boring. Whose fault is this anyway? Who asked us not to smile? It is admittedly important to have a routine in our daily lives but what is more important is to remember to smile and enjoy it.

“Keep smiling, because life is a beautiful thing and there’s so much to smile about.” – Marilyn Monroe

When we smile, you’ll notice that we become euphoric and our mood instantly lifts up. Happy thoughts start flowing into our mind, positivity is filled in our heart and brain and as a result great things begin to happen. All this starts with just a simple easy-peasy smile. 🙂

Whenever we meet someone we know, be it at a public place, at our home, or at a party, the first thing we do is to greet them with a smile. But have you ever taken cognizance of the fact that when we are smiling, it is very difficult to bring in ill thoughts about that person into your mind? This might be a person you loathe from the bottom of your heart, but for that one moment when you are smiling, notice that there are no ill thoughts. Afterwards we might go back to not liking the person, but for that one single moment, there is no hatred in the mind or the heart. Now just imagine how wonderful our lives would be if our entire journey of life is filled with only such moments and that all this could happen with a mere smile!

Life is a one-time experience and we need to live it to the fullest. Every moment needs to be enjoyed and experienced with utmost joy.

Every day entails a variety of tasks for us and this varies from person to person. Each of us our routines are different. Some follow a strict disciplined order of things while others’ routine is to simply do things without a routine. But amidst this routine or no-routine life, what we often forget is to get joy out of it, to bring a smile or two to our faces.

“A smile is happiness you’ll find right under your nose.” – Tom Wilson

Have you come across an effervescent person? Or are you one? It is so easy to smile and bounce and laugh in the presence of such people because they keep the environment lively and spread their smiles broad and wide. I often wonder does it come naturally to these people or have they made it their habit? Is it easy? Either way I am not such a person but I do try to smile as frequently as I can. And I can assure you that it’s no herculean task.

If today, by reading this article, if I’ve somehow managed to bring about a smile on your face, then I would consider myself lucky. And I would be even more fortunate if even one person reading this article manages to remember, recollect and reinforce this act in the days and months to come. I guess I could then say that I’ve been successful in spreading some smiles.

Let us first make sure to bring about a smile on our own faces, and then going one step ahead, we can help in bringing about smiles on the faces of other people. Let us together spread so many smiles that it becomes completely interminable. Let us share the joy and spread around millions of smiles and make this world an even better place to live in 🙂

Cover Image Credits : Image by Pexels from Pixabay

PS : The other pictures  in the article are drawn by me.