Healing Power of a Smile
Have you ever walked down the street grumbling or worrying about
things you have to do, your relationships, your job, your whole life?
When you glance up someone smiles at you, and before you know
it you’re smiling back. In only a split-second you’ve dropped your
troubles, you stand up a little straighter, and walk on knowing ev-
erything is going to be okay. A genuine smile has tremendous power.
When you smile at someone it makes them feel good about
themselves. When you smile at your plants they feel your loving
energy and they grow. When you go home, pat your dog on the
head and smile at him, your dog will wag his tail to show you he’s
happy. But if you go home, yell at him and kick him, he’ll cower,
growl, or bite. If you scream at your loved ones they’ll feel defen-
sive and unloved.
A true smile is a sign of love, a transmitter of energy which has
a warming, healing effect. It is a vehicle for music. A person who
does not smile is like a guitar which is not played: the guitar sits in
the corner, begins to warp, it’s strings stretch out, and gradually
the guitar cracks and decays. The non-smiler, likewise, does not
develop his ability to give and receive love. His dark countenance
and serious approach to life is often coupled with ulcers and other
medical disorders as his life slowly crumbles for lack of care and
love.
On the other hand, the guitar that is polished and played has its
strings changed regularly, the bow adjusted and is kept safely in a
case. A well-loved and tended guitar brings life and light to the
musician, and often outlives its owner. The smiler, too, brings joy
to people’s lives, and leads a happy healthy life that may be soundly
remembered long after his or her physical passing away.
Unfortunately, while we all recognize the difference between
cheery people and glum people, and while we associate happi-
ness with health, and sadness with sickness, we still do not ac-
knowledge the power of smiling or understand its full potential. In
short, we don’t take smiling to our organs and nervous system
seriously.
Why, for instance, if a smile is associated with health, aren’t
there doctors who specialize in smiling? If Saturday Review editor,
Norman Cousins, used old Marx Brothers films to laugh away his
rare connective disease, then why can’t doctors and nurses use
Secret of the Inner Smile