Smile for a Healthy Heart

Smile at a stranger passing by, make his morning glad; for he may meet you in the eve when your heart's feeling sad!

A smile is probably one of the simplest of cures for anything in this world - broken confidence, broken dreams, even a broken heart. I have almost lost count of how many times I have looked into the mirror and just smiled at myself, and how it has worked to get me out of a bad mood! At the end of it you become so infected by your own smile, you wish the reflection you are seeing in the mirror were an actual person and you could hug that person and thank that person for being so nice to you!

That is indeed a lot of work, and you can imagine the amount of pressure on the heart and even the blood vessels of the body. Now just think about the amount of things, and the number of times, and the countless moments in life that we spend being upset about something - does it still seem worth it?

I said in one of my previous articles that it is only a healthy body that can host a happy mind. Today I will go on to say - converse is also true. If you are happy, you are going to feel great, and your body is going to respond to all that positive energy within itself.

If you stay happy, you will feel positive about your life, more confident to tackle all of life's challenges, and grab the bull by its horns. And one of the best ways to stay happy is to keep smiling. More smiles correspond to less frowns, which mean less tension and stress.

Laughing also causes the body to release nitrous oxide, or the laughing gas as it is commonly called. And what's more - seeing someone laugh makes you smile, then grin ear to ear, and finally laugh yourself! And that is what forms the basis of Dr. Madan Kataria's brainchild, Hasyayoga - or Laughter Yoga.

The source of laughter in these groups, where laughter is an exercise rather than just an expression, is not humor. But anyone passing by one of the Hasyayoga groups would burst out laughing looking at them anyway. Increased laughter means better blood circulation, which in turn ensures the health of your body, and particularly that of your heart.

A common saying in any profession related to hospitality is 'Serve with a Smile'. Nobody likes to be welcomed by a grumpy, sullen, grouchy receptionist, be it at the doctor's or at a five-star hotel. Have you ever noticed that most wall-clocks on display in stores show the time ten minutes past ten? If yes, have you ever wondered why?

It is because the way the hands of a clock are positioned at that time make it look like a smile. Watching someone smile is contagious, and you almost involuntarily tend to smile back at the person you saw smiling.

In fact, so powerful is the emotion and emotional connect, that even reading the word 'smile' in this article must have made you smile at some point - and if not, then me mentioning it right now must definitely have! (See, there you go!) In part this could be to do with mirror neurons found in the body.

Mirror neurons are those that send out the same signals when the body is subjected to a stimulus, and even when that organism sees another organism being subjected to the same stimulus. So when we say 'I can feel your pain', we really can feel someone's pain.

One cannot stress enough on the importance of being happy. In the words of Leo F. Buscaglia, too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.

So spread the joy! Let someone be bowled over by your million dollar smile today. Keep smiling... cheers!