{"id":465,"date":"2016-05-02T00:55:34","date_gmt":"2016-05-02T05:55:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jeneration.net\/?p=465"},"modified":"2016-05-01T20:19:08","modified_gmt":"2016-05-02T01:19:08","slug":"smile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jeneration.net\/index.php\/2016\/05\/02\/smile\/","title":{"rendered":"Smile"},"content":{"rendered":"

Essentials for Everyday Life <\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Smile <\/strong><\/p>\n

Sources say it can take as little as 13 muscles to form a smile. It\u2019s an easy and natural thing to do, so natural that we oftentimes do so involuntarily and sometimes no matter how hard we try not to, we just can\u2019t keep ourselves from smiling. That\u2019s how powerful those few muscles are and how powerful a smile is.<\/p>\n

Smiling isn\u2019t just physically powerful. It\u2019s actually even more emotionally powerful.<\/p>\n

We all have bad days. We all feel sad or stressed out at times. One thing that can make you feel better and get you through it is smiling. I\u2019m not saying you should hide your pain or whatever is bothering you with a smile. Instead a smile will relax you.<\/p>\n

Take a minute and think about something or someone who makes you happy. It could be a friend, family member, teacher, co-worker, a special someone, or your favorite singer, actor or comedian. It could be your cute and cuddly pet. It could be your favorite song, movie or book. It could be as simple as a memory, maybe something someone said or did, or even something you did yourself. It could be anything. No matter how hard life seems we all have happy moments. Thinking about these happy things raises our endorphins and we feel warm and fuzzy. I\u2019m willing to bet that pretty quickly, probably instantly, a smile spreads across your face. And even if it doesn\u2019t make you smile big, I\u2019d bet money that you at least smirk!<\/p>\n

That smile you form from that happy thought will relax you. You\u2019ll feel your shoulders drop and your neck soften. A new feeling will wash over you and you\u2019ll start to feel better. You\u2019ll forget (at least temporarily) whatever was bothering you. You won\u2019t feel down, sad, depressed, or stressed. You\u2019ll forget about your pain.<\/p>\n

Wearing a smile will make you feel peaceful and content. Just think of the most famous smile in history. The Mona Lisa. It\u2019s not a big smile with her pearly whites showing, but yet she looks so peaceful and content. People who travel from all over the world every day to see this portrait of her and her famous smile feel content and at peace just looking at her and her smile. How powerful is that?<\/p>\n

You can also help others with your smile. As relaxing as a smile is for you, it\u2019s equally delightful for others. Sometimes we get so caught up in the hustle of daily life, everywhere we need to go and everything that you need to do, basically all caught up in ourselves that we don\u2019t even notice or look at those who are around us.<\/p>\n

One thing you can do is smile when you pass a stranger. Just as everyone else does, they could be having a bad day. Your smile could be a ray of sunshine and a glimmer of hope on an otherwise emotionally cloudy and dark day. As silly as it may seem, your smile could make their day. That\u2019s how powerful a smile really is.<\/p>\n

A number of things in life can be contagious. Colds, the Flu, other germs, even a yawn is contagious. Some would also argue that a bad mood or bad attitude is contagious for some people.<\/p>\n

If a yawn or mood can be contagious, then so can smiling be. You could consider it a good germ that you want to pass around. If you smile at someone else, they are likely to smile in response. Someone else will notice their smile and then smile themselves. Another person will see their smile and it will bring them to smile. This could go on and on and on. One smile could easily indirectly reach dozens of people. Your smile could end up having an impact on someone you may never cross paths with. That\u2019s how powerful a smile really is.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an exercise I challenge you to try. I know very well that our days can get busy and crazy, and sometimes being so busy stresses us. When you feel yourself getting overwhelmed or wrapped up in your day, stop what you\u2019re doing and your thoughts. Take a slow deep breath and think of something or someone that makes you happy. Hold that thought for at least a minute and keep everything else out of mind. Tune out the distractions. I\u2019m willing to bet you\u2019re smiling and feeling at least a little relaxed.<\/p>\n

Mother Teresa said it perfectly when she said, \u201cWe shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do.”<\/p>\n

You could start a trend and have an positive impact on someone just by using 13 muscles and forming a smile. What a powerful thing.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d love to hear what makes you smile. Share it on Twitter with #jeneration #whatmakesmesmile!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Essentials for Everyday Life Smile Sources say it can take as little as 13 muscles to form a smile. It\u2019s an easy and natural thing to do, so natural that we oftentimes do so involuntarily and sometimes no matter how hard we try not to, we just can\u2019t keep ourselves from smiling. That\u2019s how powerful […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/jeneration.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/jeneration.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/jeneration.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jeneration.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jeneration.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/jeneration.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":467,"href":"http:\/\/jeneration.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465\/revisions\/467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jeneration.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jeneration.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jeneration.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}