100 Ways To Live A Better Life – 52. Smile At Least 10 Times A Day

And I mean it, start to count that. Smiling is a sign of honesty and power. Everybody can cry over a disaster but only the most powerful can take bitterness with a smile. Exercise that power. And then try to go for 20 times a day.

Smiling is a sign of the powerful. A smile can hold in itself both the enthusiasm of pure laughing and the expression of genuine sadness. Developing the habit of constantly smiling is an exercise of endurance and courage.

Genuinely receiving everything life throws at you with a smile will have the unexpected effect of soothing the harsh moments and embellishing the nice ones.

A smile is the cheapest reality improvement tool. 

5 Ways To Get From Zero Smiles To Smile 10 Times Per Day

As with any new activity, this smiling thing will require some new training until it will become routine. Here are some simple, common sense approaches that will help you get to that routine faster.

1, Enjoy The Unexpected

Life is about change. Life is what happens when you’re out there making plans. I think John Lennon said that. Well, it doesn’t matter who said it, as long as it’s true. The only thing you should expect, is the unexpected. At times, the unexpected will be fun and pleasantly surprising and exciting. But, some other times, it will be bleak, black, unpleasant. Until you will learn that both are just projections and there is no “pleasant” or “not pleasant” stuff, and it’s only our mind that discriminates and then projects the results unto things, well, until you will learn that, just smile. No matter how pleasant or unpleasant is the outcome, just smile.

2. Accept Defeat With A Smile

With a smile. You will have a lot of defeats. As a matter of fact, we all have. Not always things go the way we planned them. But wile there’s little we can do to turn back time and take another decision or make another plan, well, at least we can smile. There is a very subtle manifestation of power if you smile at defeat instead of bowing down with compliance. Smiling will act like a powerful dissolving agent. It will soften the bitterness, at least, and make the horizon a bit more clearer. That doesn’t make defeat less of a defeat, of course. You will still need to take proper action and transform that defeat into a victory. But you can as well do that with a smile on your face.

3. Use Smile As A Social Opener

When you’re in line at the grocery, for instance. Don’t say nothing if somebody wants to get ahead of you, just smile. Or when you wait to cross the street. Just smile at people and see what happens. Eye contact wouldn’t hurt either. But try not to stare, it may be uncomfortable for the other one. When you smile at someone you don’t know, the level of tension goes down both for you and for the other person. There is some sort of relaxation that slowly creeps in, even if the context is pressuring or uncomfortable. Then, after you broadcasted your smile long enough, you can talk. You’ll be surprised how little meaning will have your words. Because, no matter hat you’ll say, if you did smile enough, almost anything you say will make the other person open up.

4. Mirror Your Smiles

In other words, start to smile at yourself. I you’re shy, just do that when nobody else is looking. But if you’re not, you know that smiling is the best outfit ever. Practice your smile in the bathroom. In the subway or at the mall. Just see how it goes with your face. It will lift you up. You can’t say bad things about yourself or think bad about yourself when you’re smiling. It simply won’t go through. It will stop negative thinking at the gates. Yes, you may look a little awkward from a distance, just sitting there and smiling at yourself, but you’ll get used to it. And the benefits are well worth the awkwardness.

5. Smile For No Reason

That’s the hardest, because our brains are wired in such a way that every reaction must be created by some action. So, in the beginning, it will be harder to just smile for no reason. In the beginning, the reason for that “no reason smile” will be this article. You will smile because the point number 5 says so. But, as you practice this, you will learn how to detach from this article and really smile for no reason. You will get better and better at this. You will start to fill the gaps of your day with smiles. And oh, you will realize your day has so many gaps.

***

Well, I lied. you’re not required to do all he 5 things I listed above. You can easily go ahead with just 3 of them. If you do them day in and day out, the output will be, in no time, that you will smile 10 times a day. At least.

And, speaking about today, you only have 9 to go, if we count the one that’s on your face right now. 😉

further reading

The Art Of New Beginnings

14 Ways To Say Yes




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