Suddenly Some ...Smiles

The Benefits of Smiling
Smiling is infectious,
You can catch it like the flu.
Someone smiled at me today,
And I started smiling too.
~Author Unknown

Some time ago I got fed up with feeling down all the time, this was pre 'the big change' and the only thing I could think of to try and get me out of it was to smile. Ha, I hear you say, but, no smiling when you are feeling depressed is very difficult. I had no friends, was unhappy at home , living in a foreign country and didn't have a proper job either, I really was at my wits end. Support was very hard to come by, smile I told myself, you know the the saying "smile and the whole World smiles with you, cry and you cry alone". Well, I'd done enough of the second, so I started smiling, from the very first moment I tried it I noticed the difference.

No really there was a difference, at first I just noticed people smiling back and then there was more eye contact, in a country where both seem to be avoided I was amazed! Smiling was a strain at the beginning, I didn't see the point, but those first few days encouraged me and as it got easier and more people smiled at me, people started to talk to me! If I was standing at a bus stop I would be people approached to ask about the time-time or whether they had missed the number so and so.

 I smiled more and more and wonderful things started to happen, I began to feel more positive in general. I began to trust myself and others began to trust me more, my work environment changed because I'd changed, I'd changed from a timid employee who sho in the corner never daring to do or say anything to a smiling, happy (at least on the outside - but that was changing to), friendly and helpful self confident person. 

What does a smile do?

Smiles lower your blood pressure! yep, it has been proved... you can prove it to yourself, I did ven the doctor was amazed. When you next go to the doctor and he takes your blood pressure ask if to take it again when you're smiling, there really is a noticeable difference. Whether you feel like smiling or not, or are happy or not smiling releases endorphins, serotonin and other biochemicals so called happy chemicals into your body. The same ones released when you go bungy jumping or mountain biking or any dangerous sport. It#s also said that if you smile enough it has a positive effect on your immune system.


Psychological changes happen too:

• you fell more positive.
• you are more approachable
• people trust you more - every one prefer a smiling salesman :)
• they help cover up embarrassment 
• they say sorry
• you are more attractive
• Don't believe me? hear it from somebody else: ten benefits of smiling

2 years after starting my smiling experiment, a smile is now my natural expression. A smile is a weapon in sociality that none can withstand.

Forgotten how to smile? try this... but please start smiling!!