The Power of a Smile

Good evening ladies and gentleman

I found myself not two or three days ago staring down the barrel of a remarkably complex mental quandary, that led me to a thinking about something i am fairly confident we don’t really pay attention to, for its something so familiar, something just there, forever popping up throughout modern life, so fleeting in nature for the few seconds its there, in just a flash of beauty before its gone forever. Not faded though, for the lasting effect it can have, even though its so simple.

Let me quickly set the scene. Out with friends, buying drinks quite late into the night. Buying singles from the bar, only to find myself with the application of a smile from a beautiful woman, much more comfortable with buying doubles. Now I’m more than aware that i was totally suckered into buying more drinks by said woman, this i something I am happy to admit to. It happens and we could try and figure it out all night. She was beautiful, i had been drinking, whatever. I don’t blame her, she was doing her job and after the initial irritation i moved on and carried on enjoying the night. It did however, get me thinking about the power of a smile, in particular what it can do for you mentally and what it could do to you emotionally.

Now i’m not sure if this is true, but its something i heard once, that regardless of its truth is remarkably interesting. If  you ever feel nervous, maybe for an upcoming event, a meeting, a date, a concert, anything that was giving you all of those signs you were starting to feel the pressure. The hairs standing on the back of your neck, the clammy hands, the butterflies in your stomach, the slight tremor showing you that something is coming and you can’t be sure how its going to turn out. You are nervous, and its not feeling this sensation that scares you, but the element of the unknown, the element that has found its way into your life that in turn has created this “nervousness. To smile, to think of something good, something funny, something beautiful, something old, new, a moment in your life, a moment you treasure, a person you treasure with all your heart. As your face moves and the smile comes about, there is an idea that you are calmed and at least temporarily the nerves are subsided.

Regardless of the psychological or physiological nature behind this, i believe it is true, purely from my own experiences, something which to me is a remarkably good illustration of how positively powerful a smile can be. Its effects, while fleeting,  are quite an amalgamation of thoughts and feelings. When feeling low, down, miserable- whatever you want to call it, for someone or something to illicit a smile from what can at times feel like your broken soul is so beautiful. Just for a second, you become lost, not in all the noise, not in the fear of not knowing, of losing, of feeling, just in the the warm sensation of the memory, not in the details, just the joy you felt, when in the present moment you get the feeling that the pain will never fade. Even though in our own way. For a smile to cut through that is outstanding.

Back to the example we were talking about earlier, what i found interesting is my initial reaction to something as simple as seeing someone smile. Away from the obvious result of spending more money, the fact she smiled caused me to smile too, like in a way saying that smiling is  infectious. Her smiling caused me to smile and this, even if just for a second, a blip in the timeline of my forever tumultuous and often questionable life decisions seemed as close to perfect as possible, for there in that moment, all the noise seemed so meaningless, like seeing the sun pop back up from just over the horizon as the inky blackness of night disappears, as you see someone you love for the first time in so long, as they laugh with you at the world as you share something so brilliantly unique.  I guess, in fairly simple terms, smiling, and seeing someone else smile makes us…happy.

Away from feeling nervous about life and love, of all the rubbish and bullshit it can seem life is constantly hurtling at you, trying to drag a good mood through the bushes, to win the good fight for your mental independence in some warped desire to confine you and your wonderful thoughts and feelings to a box that can be molded and manipulated. Then take something as simple as a smile and all of this seems to fall into some odd level of insignificance. With everything that’s going on in the world at the moment it can seem like the easiest thing to do, the best thing to do is to back down, to admit defeat in the fight, to surrender to the desires of an easy life and let its power wash over you. I think we should try and surrender more, but not to defeat, to something far simpler and something much more beautiful.

Hindsight is a beautiful thing, as I’m sure you know. I made a mistake, in my judgement of that smile. I jumped immediately to the conclusion i had been played, and as soon as the “falseness,” the manufactured happiness i have a natural loathing of had dictated the way i behaved, it lost some of its beauty. Now I’m not saying we should ignore what is an obvious reality, but take things more as they are. There was a moment, and there was a smile. It was there one second and gone the next. If we surrender more to these moments and you let them flow throughout even the darkest part of your  mind, then maybe, just maybe, we can have more of these moments where we can feel so fucking brilliant, even if just for a second.

Furthermore if we are all for learning of life, love and everything in between, then maybe through surrendering to the simple beauty of a smile, be it from your or as part of a moment you share with someone, it might give you confidence, give me confidence, to put yourself in unfamiliar situations, in places where you may not now the result, where you may feel good, you may get to smile, to laugh and to be happy. I think we all have this natural awareness, this fail safe to avoid situations that may make you feel “sad,” feel lost, miserable or envious of someone or something. However, if we can feel so good, even if just for a second because of a smile, maybe its worth the risk, for the power of the smile can do so much more to us than we could ever imagine.

I feel like it could be worth the risk, because it could make us so much more. All through the power of a smile

What do you think? What does the power of a smile do to you? Let me know through the usual social media or comment below.

Yours, with love as always.

DR

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5 thoughts on “The Power of a Smile

  1. Great post! I advocate the power of smiling and the experience that you described and that inspired you to write this blog post is a perfect example.

    As you wrote, it is also very important to take things as they are, without reading too much into it. This simple yet powerful action actually helps us in being being mindful and appreciating little things of life even more!

  2. Love this reminder about how powerful a simple smile is. It has the amazing ability to brighten someon’es day but can also make YOU feel better at the same time.

  3. I loved the topic! A very good one! The power of a smile is unlimited; the message it sends is indescribable; it gives hope. I love smiling; it’s healthy! Thank you and keep smiling 🙂

  4. Wow I have to say the way you write is so eloquent and poetic it really speaks to me . I agree, when I am nervous I smile and it reassures me, making me feel better x

  5. It’s so true about a smile .. one of the most powerful weapons out there! Just today I was walking downtown and an older woman passed by on the sidewalk. She offered me the kindest smile and it made my day. (I wish I could tell her)

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