Morning Manners and a Smile

Smile - You're on Candid Camera!

Not really. But...

Did you know that researchers have found RECEIVING A SMILE, especially first thing in the morning, can give more pleasure than eating chocolate and generates higher levels of positive stimulation to the brain and heart than being given money?

That’s powerful!

Ever wonder what a smile – or the opposite, a sour countenance – towards a child when he/she first arrives at school does?

I remember when I used to drop my second grade granddaughter off at school each morning there would be a glum helper with an abysmal expression on her face who’d open the car door so my granddaughter could get out. While I was glad our local elementary school had such a high regard for safety at that time, it would have been preferable if a smile had been on that woman’s face.

Even a "you’re welcome" when my granddaughter said "thank you" each morning would’ve been an improvement (I’ve always been amazed at the lack of common manners in our school systems).

And I have to ask myself what a concerted effort to smile and maybe … just maybe … a "Hi, there; so glad you’re here today" would have done for each child at the start of their school day? With our overcrowded schools having to deal with ADHD, problems at home, learning disabilities, behavioral challenges, disgruntled, underpaid staff, and nowadays COVID-19, I’m betting it would make an amazing difference.

Did you know a smile is the second most contagious expression next to yawning? Yet it’s always beautiful and endearing.

While it’s common place to run into folks wearing a sour expression, I like to smile because smiling does more than increase my face value; it ups my resistance to stress and illness.

Smiling isn’t just good for others, it’s good for me!

Using your face to smile at others, especially a child first thing in the morning, helps disperse sadness and dissolve the stress that so many children undergo both at home and school. The 26 muscles it takes to smile, as opposed to the 62 it takes to frown, can offer both you and your child an energetic and emotional shift into high.

But what if you just don’t feel like smiling?

What if it’s your "job" to meet and greet children as they arrive at school … but you’ve had a lousy night’s rest or maybe the argument you had with your significant other is still weighing heavily on your heart. Can you "fake it ’til you make it?"

YOU SURE CAN!

According to biofeedback research, a sincere, heart-felt smile may have more far-reaching effects than one that’s fake but even so, a surface smile will trick our brain into releasing "happy hormones".

How cool is that?

And the more we smile, the more we want to smile because each time we do it, we reinforce happy neural pathways that fire more often which translates into a cheerful countenance and an uplifted mood and outlook!

Oriental philosophy holds that self- love smiling circuits release healing while self-hate messages (automatic negative thinking, i.e., "ANTS") release poisons that breed disease spontaneously, one on top of the other. Yikes!

Check it out for yourself if you don’t believe me. Spend some time with a whiny complainer wearing a frown or sour look on their face and see if you aren’t pulled down in the dumps within minutes. Conversely, hang around a happy, upbeat guy or gal for 10 minutes and feel the surge of "great" that sweeps you from head to toes.

A deep inner smile spreads within like a relaxing, warm beverage on a cold, winter’s night automatically causing negative energy to transform into positive … just like that. On the other hand, a scowl or blank I’m-so-bored-I-could-die look on your face will suppress your immune system by increasing stress and blocking good energy flow.

Tell me again why someone would do this???

Physiologist Dr. Israel Warynbaum researched the effects of smiling. His findings showed facial muscles used to express emotion trigger specific brain neurotransmitters. Emotions can be positive or negative. Smiling signals happy healing hormones such as ecstatic endorphins and immune boosting killer T-cells; frowning triggers the secretion of cortisol, the stress hormone.

Don’t we have enough stress without creating more with a frown?

There is something called "Smile Therapy" but don’t pay for it, because it’s the best and free-be-est way to help yourself relax and be content. It actually LOWERS the stress hormones cortisol, adrenalin and noradrenaline and produces hormones which stabilize blood pressure, relax muscles, improve respiration, reduce pain, accelerate healing and balance mood.

When you’re feeling down, the stress hormones secreted with a scowl may INCREASE blood pressure, weaken the immune system, increase susceptibility to infections, and exacerbate depression and anxiety.

Now I ask you again … why would anyone not want to smile???

Forget buying self-help books to psychoanalyze yourself and mind-numbing audio tapes to hypnotize your subconscious into some enlightenment and inner peace. Inoculate yourself from germs and boost your mentality, spirituality and emotional well-being all day long by smiling!