The woman you let go before you in the cashier, the older man you are holding up the door for. The kid that you say hi to or the teenager that you acknowledge. The smiles that you get back, saying thank you is heartwarming! This is the impact a smile can have. A smile is also hard to resist without smiling back 🙂 So it works both ways! Why not make every day a day when you make people happy?
A smile costs nothing, yet it can give so many people a sense of well-being—a feeling of being acknowledged and appreciated. And there are so many ways to bring a smile.
A Smile is Powerful!
When you smile, your brain releases tiny molecules called neuropeptides to help fight off stress. Then other neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin and endorphins come into play too. The endorphins act as a mild pain reliever, whereas serotonin is an antidepressant. Source: SCLHealth
Swedish research shows that physiologically we also can’t help but react back with a smile. So it is lovely! You get one, and you automatically give one back and make the other person happy as well! It is contagious! Just watch this video!
So flash that smile across your face, and dopamine, endorphins and serotonin will all be released into your bloodstream, doing wonders. Not only will your body relax, but it also works to lower your heart rate and blood pressure!
And remember what George Eliot said; Wear a smile and have friends; wear a scowl and have wrinkles.
World Smile Day
This year, the first Friday of October is Friday the 1st of October. World Smile day is a relatively new day but with a fascinating story. The day was created by Harvey Ball, the creator of the smiley face. Harvey Ball, an artist, was hired by an insurance company in 1963 to create a morale-boosting icon. This for their employees, and he came up with the yellow-and-black smiley face with a broad, dimpled grin. This took ten minutes, and he is said to be paid $45 for his 10 minutes of work.
Harvey was later worried that the commercialisation of the smiley face symbol would lessen its impact. And maybe he was concerned with a right? Since he made the symbol, it has been used in so many ways. You can see the smiley face everywhere; on clothing, comic books, coffee mugs, pins, and more. The intention behind World Smile Day is that we take this day to act kindly and thus put a smile on somebody’s face! These little yellow faces that we have become so used to and are using in so many ways are more than just a symbol. If you look at them from another perspective, they are actually a statement over the power of smiling.
There are so many ways we can celebrate World Smile Day! The people we know, we usually know what brings a smile to their faces. It is an excellent day to activate that knowledge.
Other ways to celebrate can be simple things like:
- Show kindness to the people you meet
- Tell somebody a funny joke, and if they do not like it, at least you will smile, and then they cannot help but smile 🙂
- Use a smiley face emoji in the texts that you send
- Smile at unknown people
- Tell somebody all the nice things you think about them, but you never told them.
World Smile Day 2021- let us smile and make someone happy!
Harvey Ball, the creator of the smiley face, wanted to keep the smile connected to the human being. The original smiley face has come a long way since its creation, and today you can find it in many different variants and meanings, mainly in digital form. By creating World Smile Day in 1999, it was a day to remember to smile and return. So get a smile and brighten your day and the other day. Maybe to give a smile back to the human beings?
The World Smile Day was on the 1st of October, but let’s take this fall to remember to spread happiness and joy with such a simple thing as a smile. Remember, it comes with health benefits, and it does not cost anything 🙂
