Pandemic! Quarantines! Schools and businesses closed! Stock market on a rollercoaster ride!
There doesn’t seem to be much to smile about recently. Global anxiety is high. We feel cut adrift, afraid, panicked, and confused. It is most certainly a difficult time for all of us, but we all still have something that can help us get through it AND it is free!
Our SMILES! Yes, it’s true. A study in the UK on “mood-boosting values” using electromagnetic brain scans and heart-rate monitors proved that a smile was as stimulating as 2,000 chocolate bars or receiving $25,000. Who knew that something so simple could be so powerful? This miracle involves our body chemistry. When we smile, we activate “feel-good hormones” in our brains, regardless of how we are feeling at the moment. Even better, our own smiles can prompt smiles from others, even at the 6-foot (now-mandatory in some parts of the country) protective zone. By smiling at others we can then pass some of our magic to them.
Want to know where you are on the Smile-o-meter?
- 14% of us smile less than 5 times a day (that would put the Grinch to shame).
- 30% smile 20 times a day – not bad.
- And guess who the champions of smiling are? Children! They smile as many as 400 times a day. Children seem to have undying faith in living for the moment. Follow their lead by opening your heart and smiling. Stay positive!
Yes, this COVID-19 virus will be a challenge. We need to take it seriously and do our best to protect ourselves and all those around us. But we have our smiles. We can smile when we do the “elbow bump” instead of a handshake, or at fellow shoppers in a crowded grocery store, or at home with our families. Our smiles help show support for people around us and help us remember we are in this together.
Let’s see if we can get anywhere close to the children’s smile quotient of 400 per day!