The Power of a Smile

I was in the drive through at McDonalds the other night and started getting frustrated as I waited 5 minutes before moving an inch, then 10 minutes past and I started getting a little more annoyed, and then I finally got to the pay window 25 minutes later and by that time I was questioning if I even wanted my food anymore. I had no where to go, so I don't really know why I was so irritated, but it was just a lot longer of a wait then I was used to or even intended on. As the young man came to collect my money he looked slightly overwhelmed and frustrated. He told me my food would be done when it was done, handed me my daughter's chocolate shake with whip cream all over it and it was very apparent he did NOT want to be there this evening! When he brought me the small bag with one French fry in it, he handed it to me, I smiled and said, " I hope you have a better night," and I was very sincere because in all honesty I had no idea what was going on inside of the business, I tried looking and all I saw were 2 employee, which could mean maybe everyone called in, maybe they were the only two people there and were slammed.? I didn't know the circumstance so I chose to leave him with a smile and I'm happy I did because the young man took a deep breathe, stopped, smiled back and said, "Thank You!" Sometimes I think that we forget how much power a smile really has. I was reading an article entitled, "The Science of Smiling and Why it's so Powerful." It states that the smile is "the symbol that was related with the highest positive emotional content!" So what exactly happens to our brain when we smile? Well the article went into a lot of scientific explanation and verbiage so thank gosh they simplified it into this..."Smiling stimulates our brain's reward mechanisms in a way that even chocolate, a well-regarded pleasure inducer, cannot match."

That's something I can understand! The article continued by saying that smiling then, seems to give us the same happiness that exercising induces terms of how our brain responds. In short: our brain feels good and tells us to smile, we smile and tell our brain it feels good and so forth! In recent research scientists concluded that smiling can be as stimulating as receiving up to 16,000 pounds Sterling in cash! Well that surely speaks volumes! Sometimes I wonder why I see so many smiling people that are maybe unhappy. The next portion of the article went into being able to tell the difference between a fake and real smile! So let's get all science-y again; whenever we smile there are 2 muscles we activate and all you Cosmetologists you should remember this from the theory chapter entitled Anatomy from school! The first muscle is the zygomaticus major and it controls the corners of you mouth. Whenever this muscle ONLY is activated, it's not actually a genuine smile. Scientists call this the "Social Smile." The second muscle, known to show sincerity is the orbicularis occuli and it encircles our eye socket. The true smile also called the duchenne smile, named after the famous scientist who first separated the "mouth corners" - only smile, from the "eye socket" smile. Our brains can in fact distinguish easily between what's real and what's fake. Here's how it does this: Our brain compares the geometry of a person's face to a standard smile, we think about the situation and judge whether a smile is expected, and most importantly: we automatically mimic the smile, to feel ourselves whether it is fake or real. If it is real, our brain will activate the same areas from the smiler and we can identify it as a real one! Did anyone else know how this works because this is nuts! Who knew our brains did this much work when someone smiled at us! Our brains are absolutely amazing! So what about what a smile can do for our health? Your brain apparently keeps track of your smiles, like a smile scorecard the article said. It knows how often you've smiled and which overall emotional state you are in! According to recent studies, smiling reduced stress that your body and mind feel, almost similar to getting good sleep! Smiling helps to generate more positive emotions within you, that's often why we feel happier around children.....they smile more! On average, a child smiles 400 times a day, while "happy" people smile 40-50 times a day, and the average of us only smile 20 times! No wonder kids are so happy! So why does this matter? Latest studies state smiling leads to decrease in the stress-induces hormones that negatively affect your physical and mental health. I know some people who don't like to smile, because they say they don't like their smile and I understand that, BUT this awesome article had pointers on this too! They had a 3 step guide to a better smile: It said that one of the best ways to make your smile genuine is before engaging in conversation with someone else, visualize someone you deeply love, or recall an event that brought you deep satisfaction and joy. Practice smiling in front of a mirror, practice to activate both you mouth corners and eye sockets. You will know whenever your smile is genuine, because you will immediately feel happy and relaxed. The power of a smile, even practiced in the mirror is that it can invoke the emotion immediately! Last but not least is becoming comfortable with smiling! This is something people struggle with. The article stated that some people see smiling as something that makes you weak. That has never even crossed my mind and find it very absurd! People have found that developing a better smile starts with being comfortable smiling a lot. The article said that if you can imagine yourself going through the day and smiling a lot to everyone and everything, that's often when a happier life starts. Did you also know that women smile more then men? This didn't really surprise me, but the reasoning was because that socially, it is more acceptable for women to smile. WHAT? Really?? It continued by saying in general women are more accurate than men in detecting what is really going on with someone by looking at their face and listening to their voice...Well I can agree with that! I also agreed with women are more likely to tell the difference between a felt and a fake smile! The article ended with a quote from Mother Teresa. "We shall never know all the good a simple smile can do." I'm happy I found this article because I learned so much and I really wanted to share it with all of you! I left the drive through the other night, not upset, not annoyed anymore, but happy. How could I have sat for 30 minutes in that drive through irritated and within seconds, I was happy? I guess it is true, you never can underestimate the power of a smile! Happy Wednesday everyone!