A Smile's Worth a Thousand Words

For this week’s ten minute fix you’ll need the following supplies… 

• Pen and Paper (or the computer equivalent) 


• A face (preferably with a mouth) 


• Other People (friends, family, or acquaintances) 

Now follow this procedure… 

• Write down 3 or more people you want to smile at 


• Make a conscious effort to show them those pearly whites throughout the day. 


• Record your thoughts on smiling. 

1. How it made a difference for you. 


2. How you think it may have made a difference for the recipients of your happy smiling face. 


3. Was it hard? 


4. Did your smiles feel sincere? 


5. Did people smile back?

A smile makes me feel pretty darn good. When someone looks genuinely happy to see me, I like them. I guess I’m pretty easy to win over in that way. All you have to do is pretend to like me and I’ll like you back. But I don’t think I’m the only one. We like to be liked and like those who like us. Just try to ignore how selfish and egotistic that sounds.

Receiving a smile isn’t the only thing that makes me feel good. The act of smiling alone is enough to brighten my day. It’s especially powerful when I’m smiling at someone else. That’s because when I smile, they get the impression that I like them, so they smile, and I get the impression that they like me, and we all feel great! (Of course, when I say “like” I mean accept, tolerate, have a good feeling about, appreciate, or love depending on the situation. I say this just to clarify that a smile to or from my wife means something different than a smile exchanged with the checkout clerk at Wal-Mart.) 

I even smile on the phone. It keeps me in the right mood during a coaching session. I pace around my little office smiling, and talking with my hands as if my client were standing in front of me. It keeps me engaged and helps me listen better. 

What are your thoughts on smiling? I'd love to read them in the comments!