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"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work. If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up."
~Ecclesiastes 4: 9-10
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In this series, we are exploring relationships and how we can build better relationships with others in our lives. The chapters of this series can be seen on the right menu bar and the current chapter is shown below. Enjoy this series as we strive to develop one of the best gifts God has given us: relationships with others.
Just Smile
September 18, 2009
"There's a girl in my class who's really scary," said my daughter Anna, "she never smiles."
As I heard Anna talk about this girl in her class and how she didn't want to play with her because she seemed really mean, it made me think of Proverbs 15:30:
"A cheerful look brings joy to the heart, and good news gives health to the bones."
And, her comment made me think about how our "look" can affect whether people want to get to know us. It also can affect how we feel.
Did you know that there are research studies on the effects of smiling? And, in many studies, it has been shown that smiling can lead to having a better mood, feeling more confident, feeling more optimistic and that it actually changes our physiology. Now, its reasonable to say that these people are smiling because they are in a better mood or feel more confident. But, in these studies, people were selected randomly and instructed to smile to see what the effects were. And, they were compared to those who were instructed to not smile. And, the results are pretty consistent: smiling has an effect on us and on those around us.
In recent studies where people were instructed to smile, researchers have shown that endorphins are released which may account for why people report better mood after a smiling intervention. And, you don't have to feel like smiling for smiling to still have an effect on you emotionally and physiologically. You just have to do it. Furthermore, smiling has been shown to cause others to be attracted to the one smiling and to cause others to want to engage in conversations with them.
Smiling matters. And, it is a simple task that we can do throughout our day to improve our own emotional well being and to affect those around us. It can also help us be more attractive to other people and for them to want to be in relationship with us. Try it today and see how others respond to you differently and see how you respond to yourself differently.
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