Smiling in 42 Languages

After my accident I could not work for a while so I spent a lot of time as a couch potato watching movies. One day I went to a video store in Subiaco, Western Australia to borrow some DVDs. The store staff member at the checkout was a lovely, truly lovely girl in her early twenties. She looked at me and started smiling, smiling flirtatiously I suppose. I smiled back with my eyes and lips tightly closed.

Then she smiled some more and asked me a question. I had no choice but to answer her so I opened my mouth. She dropped the DVDs in panic and horror. She thought I was from a horror movie. You see my friend; I had lost two of my front teeth at the accident, but could still pull off a smile – as long as I kept my mouth shut. I was not a pretty sight.

My mean side then took over for the next couple of weeks. I would go from shop to shop in Perth, smiling at shop assistants or other shoppers with my lips sealed. When I was sure they were hooked, I would open my mouth and smile widely. The looks on their faces were Kodak moments that will forever be etched in my memory!

The wonders of modern dentistry were able to restore my normal smile, albeit at a high cost. I enjoy smiling and I hope to inspire you to smile today. Ok go ahead now, smile!

A smile is a facial expression formed by flexing those muscles near both ends of the mouth. A smile can also be found around the eyes. It is an expression of the emotions of pleasure, happiness, or amusement.

I grew up in Kenya where there are 42 tribes each with their own language. No matter what language one speaks in Kenya, or anywhere in the world for that matter, there is a universal power in smiling. You can and should smile, in any language.

I was reminded of the power of smiling after my accident when I lost my ability to have a normal smile. Then a couple of days ago, one of my favorite blog readers, Brenda Njeru mentioned something about smiling. I smiled instantly and decided to write about the power of smiling; hence this blog post.

Brenda said “I have always wondered why people are always smiling at me when I am walking in the streets, only with time did I realize I was the one smiling:)”. How true.

Why Smile?

• Smiling creates a good impression – Companies train their staff to smile in order to make a good impression to their customers. Smiling puts the other person at ease and changes the atmosphere. If you genuinely smile at people, they will like you and treat you much better than if you have a frown or a ‘stone face’.

• Smiling changes your emotional state – Smiling makes one happy and content. The physical act of smiling even in difficult times can help improve your emotional state. It can help you light up, relax and be cheerful.

• Smiling makes you more attractive – I can only remember one period in my life that smiling did not make me more attractive (after my accident). Smiling makes people attracted to you because it projects external and internal beauty.

• A smile changes other people’s state – Smiling is contagious. As Brenda experienced, when you smile at others, it makes them smile back at you. Try smiling at a baby and the baby will warm up to you. Try and smile at your partner or colleague and they will smile back at you. Smiling improves the environment for social interaction.

• It is easier to smile than frown – You use more muscles frowning than you do smiling. It takes 43 muscles to frown but only 17 muscles to smile. Take the easy road my friend. Smile today.

• Makes you seem more successful – Smiling helps project an image of satisfaction, contentment and happiness. A confident smile can do wonders for your career or relationships. People like being associated with successful people. Smiling improves your perceived level of success and therefore attracts people to your life.

• Smile-leniency effect – I am not sure how many lawyers or criminals read this blog, but I found something that they may want to investigate further. Daniel McNeill, author of The Face: A Natural History says “though courtroom judges are equally likely to find smilers and nonsmilers guilty, they give smilers lighter penalties, a phenomenon called the ‘smile-leniency effect.’”.

The George Bush Smile

Enlightr.com has an article on smiling that talked of a “George Bush Smile”. Here is what the article author had to say:

“President George W. Bush always has a permanent smirk on his face. Ray Birdwhistell found that smiling among middle-class people is most common in Atlanta, Louisville, Memphis, Nashville and most of Texas. Bush is a Texan and they smile more than most other Americans. As a result, in Texas, an unsmiling individual might be asked if he was ‘angry about something’, while in New York, the ‘smiler’ might be asked, ‘What’s so funny?’ President Jimmy Carter was also a Southerner who smiled all the time. This worried the Northerners who feared that he knew something they didn’t.”

Be careful who you smile at!

Summary

Count your blessings if you can smile without scaring people away. Use your beautiful smile to put people at ease, to improve your emotional state and make yourself more attractive. However, be careful about who you choose to smile to!

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