Week 1:Smile- Costs nothing, creates much

 

One day, I decided to smile to everyone I meet no matter what happen. First I tested it to my mom before I went to church at hometown Sarawak. She said ‘OK, bye bye’ maybe because she thought that I want to bribe her on something. 15 minutes after, there I was... at the church. There I begin my experiment; to 1st usher standing at the stairway- I smiled, 2nd usher at the entrance - with my high pitch voice said ‘Good morning!’ and give her extra smile. Both of them in an instant with the high speed responded consciously smile back at me. ‘It worked!’ I said as I want to conclude the experiment that morning with a sense of success.

Not until I met a guest pastor who will deliver a speech that morning. I shakes his hand, a good morning greeting and of course a smile at him - (I’m about to change my mind on the conclusion though) He shook my hand, say ‘good morning to you too’ and… he was not smiling. I thought; what happen to him today? Am I not smiling sincerely? Ya maybe I thought. So I smiled for a second time and showed him my thumb up and said, ‘Thank you for being here.’ His respond was still the same.

Right after he finished his sermon, I came to him and with curiosity asking him,
‘Pastor, this is between you and me. Do you have any problems? Maybe I can help you.’
‘Why do you think I have a problem?’ He said.
‘Oh, this morning I greeted you. But you aren’t smiling.’
Then, in the twinkling of an eye: He smiles at me. He said, ‘it’s my face. Happy or sad, my face expression is like this.’ He seems like smiling.
Yes, I know now. Even he was sincerely wanted to smile; I can see that he force his face muscles to create the expression of what we called: Smile. But there’s another reason he don’t smile- it was kind of ugly. (Ha ha). It ends up with a great conversation. I joke about his smile, and he jokes at me back about my Maggie mee’s hair.

Smile can make your day much much better. Your smile is a messenger of your good will. Your smile brightens the lives of all who see it. David Schwartz said ‘When you smile, smile. Show few teeth. Maybe your teeth aren’t attractive, but that’s really unimportant. For when you smile, people don’t see your teeth. They see a warm, enthusiastic personality, someone they like.’ Unless you have a face muscles problem like this pastor I’m writing about or you are born with no lips- I urge you to smile. If you’re not in the mood to smile, just smile. No one can be angry and smile at the same time.

Say to yourself: I have no silver and gold, but what I have I give to you (others): my smile.

Start your day with a smile. Maybe you can brighten up those people around you today. God bless you.