The Joy of Life
By Gene Myers
The smiling exercise
Ever notice the feeling you get when you are walking around with a smile on your face? I usually feel a little bit goofy, a little self-conscious. But my fear is allayed the minute I come in contact with another person.
The same smile pops up on their face.
“Why are you smiling?” they ask through their own goofy grin.
If I have an appropriate answer, a conversation starts. If I don’t have an appropriate answer, the smiles grow even bigger.
“I don’t know,” I say sheepishly as my smile takes over my face.
“Oh? OK,” they say as they follow the beam of their own smile on down the hall.
Unlike frowning, people don’t always need a reason for smiling. No matter if it’s their own smile or someone else’s.
I don’t always have a reason, because sometimes I am just smiling as an exercise.
There are three simple rules to the smiling exercise:
1) Do it on purpose.
2) Do it more often.
3) Start in the morning.
I emphasize smiling on purpose emphatically. Sure, it’s an automatic reaction that our bodies handle on autopilot, but smiling on purpose jump-starts the feeling of giddiness.
Smiling on purpose also allows us to dispense smiles more often, like Pez from a Pez dispenser, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a sad person holding a Pez dispenser!
Lastly, I say start in the morning because that is when we tend to grump around like “adults.” I don’t mean like adults who have amassed accomplishments that they are proud of like family and careers.
I’m using the connotation for “adults” that kids have in their inflection when referring to the slouching beasts who stand around the coffee maker sighing and groaning -- hands tucked into their backs to better support the weight of the world.
One morning smile will jettison you and any bystanders into the light of the new day.
The Joy of Life appears in Suburban Trends every Wednesday.
