Lets Talk About Smiles.

Smiles can be powerful. Real, honest from the heart smiles sends out energy. A smile can be reassuring to another person. They can convey an expression of kindness and empathy.

Many people see the eyes as being windows into our souls. Denis Waitley said "A smile is the light in your window that tells others that there is a caring, sharing person inside."

Wait a minute. How can both of those ideas be true? Is it the eyes that are the window or the smile? People really need to make up their minds, right?

Both statements are true. Let’s explore that idea.

When a person forms a real, from the heart smile, their whole face changes. Ever notice that? The smile starts on the lips and as the corners of the mouth turns up, a light comes into their eyes.

Some people show more light the others. I’ve met people whose smile brings a twinkle into their eyes. My experience has been when someone has that twinkle, there is a caring, empathetic and fun loving person within.

Others have light in the eyes when they smile but it’s more subdued. Often the softer light is merely a person who is a bit unsure or cautious of the situation their in. When they relax and feel safe, the light brightens and shows a warm caring person.

Those are real, authentic people. Sadly, not everyone is.

I’ve seen people who just paste a smile on. It’s obvious as blazes when they do it. The corners of the mouth might turn up, but there’s no light. Nothing more chilling than a person with a pasted on smile, eyes as cold and dark as the deepest winter night.

Sometimes the pasted on smile is merely someone who normally would be warm and authentic but is in pain of their own. They smile to try to hide their own inner struggle but it doesn’t really work.

There is something I learned about smiles many years ago. Someone told me when speaking to someone on the phone to smile. The person said the smile could be sensed and the other person would respond more favourably to the conversation.

I’ve tested the theory over the years. I’ve had difficult phone conversations and made a point of not smiling and other similar conversations where I’d smile like I was speaking in person. Most of the time, the conversation when I was smiling went easier.

When I meet people in person, I notice their smile, or lack of it, right away. It’s funny how we have different things we notice right off about another person. My mother put a lot of emphasis on what a person’s lips looked like.

Any time she asked me to describe someone, she’d start by asking me what their lips looked like. I used to frustrate her with my response of either they were smiling or not smiling. Beyond that I didn’t notice or care.

I do know that I am more comfortable when people give me an honest, warm smile. I also know when I smile a genuine smile at others, I usually receive a positive response.

How are you with smiles?

Shadowspub is a writer from Ontario, Canada. She writes on a variety of subjects as she pursues her passion for learning. She also writes on other platforms and enjoys creating books you use like journals, notebooks, coloring books etc.

NOTE: unless otherwise stated, all images are the author’s

• header image is from pixaby.com

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