How many sayings are there for smiles? I’ll tell you: 764 mo-zillion plus a lot. And there’s good reason, too, as we all adore happiness. It’s the best freaking drug on the planet. Really.
I ran into a buddy recently and she’s job-hunting. We stood in the grocery store for a good 45 minutes, catching up and talking about life. While I empathize with her situation, no, scratch that. Because I empathize with her situation, I knew better than to tell her any bull about there being a silver lining in being out of work. I could have tossed out any one of the kazillion bon mots of smiling, but really, it would have been majorly uncool.
In the end, we gave each other a warm embrace and went our separate ways. I felt better for having seen her. I can only hope she felt the same. But I’m not walking in her shoes. Try as I might, I don’t know how she feels.
Anyway, back to the smiling thing. I started thinking about it because at one point my buddy said something a bit self-critical about her face. I looked her in the eye and told her how gorgeous her mug really is, and that maybe she should go home and look in the mirror and smile (at herself). I said that looking at her fake smile would probably make her laugh at herself. At that point, she would see her real smile, and, hopefully, just how beautiful she truly is.
So here’s what I’m proposing: go look at yourself in the mirror. Smile. If it’s genuine from the get-go, awesome. If not, a fake smile is okay. Just be sure to laugh at that silly, fake smile. Wow! Isn’t that familiar face just the monkey’s eyebrows? Isn’t your own light blinding? Aren’t you just the smitten kitten — with yourself? You should be.
You’re a doll, Doll!
Now that you’ve tried this little smiling exercise, how do you feel? Did it work?