Smile - and the whole world smiles with you!

Smile is a very powerful tool. One of the simplest things to raise the mood around you. If you do not believe me, try. For one day at work or home, smile to everyone. For sure you will notice the change.

I remember when I moved from Finland to Australia, the biggest change was the smile. Cashiers at grocery store, fellow runners at park and workmates. They were all smiling.

Stark change from a country where I ran the same route for years and only after about 5 years a fellow runner started smiling when our paths crossed (every week) and giving me a curt nod. It is not to say that Finns are awful and miserable people, but the smiling is just not the habit in there.

But it should.

Smiling can enhance your mood dramatically. Just yesterday I was filling my car at the petrol station and the cashier lady flashed a huge smile when it was my turn to pay. Her smile and positivity followed me all the way to my car and home. I was stressed and tired before, but felt amazingly invigorated and happy after making my car satisfied with fossil fuel injection and meeting the smiling lady.

Smiling is totally free of charge and we should use and share it more often. I read from somewhere that even if you make smiley gesture with your mouth without any feeling attached to that muscle exercise, you will feel better. Even watching people smiling in photos might raise your mood. Not to mention belly laughing little babies.

We live in a world where so many things are contagious. We very easily get an infection of despair (nothing is ever going to change better in this place), fear (just read the news and that gloomy feeling what can happen fills you so quickly) or anger (have a chat with people who are pissed off with something or someone or go to social media). They are very contagious feelings and should be feared at least as much or even more than coronavirus. It is also harder to mask against them.

But there is an antidote. Smile.

If you do not feel good, this might sound like wishy-washy crap. But it is not. It is a great tool to use against all negativity in the world and it is so contagious that you need to be extremely immune if you can resist it.

There are loads of internet pages where people list how smiling increases your serotonin, reduces depression and reduces blood pressure. Even though I found no evidence of smile onto health parameters, you can be assured that it does something. If you do not believe, make your own experiments and find out. Meet with people who smile at you and observe how it makes you feel. Then try it to others.

Smile is also a great career development and enhancement tool. Bosses like to see their people smiling. Employees like to see their boss’s smile. It is a great tool to use in meetings and negotiations. Just remember that not all cultures view the smiling similarly. If you are from those cultures or work on those cultures, you might need to learn where and how to smile. However, a honest and genuine smile as a gesture of goodwill is rarely mistaken.

In today’s stressful world we all need a little boost of hope and positivity. Something so simple as smile can deliver that message. Be the one to deliver the message. You probably get it back at you.