Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.

Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love. – Mother Teresa

Have you ever tried to out-smile a baby? Not only is it hard to do, it can even make your face hurt, if you’re not used to smiling. Try it some time. 8)

What does that mean?
How good does it feel to say “Hi!” to someone, and have them look up with a scowl on their face? Compare that to having them look up with a smile on their face. It’s hard not to smile back, or at least it’s hard for me. To me, that is the heart of the quote. As a scowl often begets a scowl, and a frown begets a frown, so too does a smile beget a smile. There will always be exceptions, but that is the experience in my life.

The quote ends with the statement that a smile is the beginning of love. While it may be possible to smile without loving, it’s hard to love without smiling. Think about all the relationships you’ve had in your life, and how many of them started with a smile.

Not all of the smiles resulted in romantic love, but there are other flavors of love, right? I can’t think of a significant relationship in my life, whether present or past, which did not start with a smile. And nearly all of them can still bring a smile just by thinking about them.

Why is smiling important?  
There are whole books which have been written about the sociological import of the smile, and how it has biological and biochemical influence on our feelings and how our body works. That’s a bit beyond the scope of this blog. Instead, I’d like to focus on how a smile changes your day and how you feel.

So, how does it feel when a stranger smiles at you? How about when a friend smiles at you? What about a family member? And what about when a lover smiles at you? Each should give a greater feeling of well being, and of love and being loved.

This is a parallel with the quote, which says the smile is the beginning of love. In this case, the smile is an expression and a continuation of love. However, to a stranger (or a friend you have only just met), a smile can be the start of something greater. And even if it is not, it might be the bright point of their day, or the turning point of their day.

Where can I apply this in my life?
Smiles are easy, and inexpensive for you to make and give away. And given how much a simple smile can help others, it’s almost criminal not to take the tiny effort and the second or two and actually smile at someone. And it takes less effort and fewer muscles to smile than to scowl.

Then there is the feeling that giving a smile instills in you. Yes, it is possible to smile through clenched teeth, but if you let go of the anger, the teeth soon unclench, and you start feeling better. Smiles are like that, at least they are for me and everyone with whom I’ve ever broached the subject.

So, having spent a moment or two thinking about how a smile can make someone elses’ day better, and thinking about how your own smile can make you feel better, can you come up with a good reason not to smile? Even if you don’t feel like smiling, how long will it take to feel differently if you start to smile?

The technique where you smile when you don’t feel like smiling, and continue smiling until you do, is often refered as “fake it until you make it.” It has been around for quite some time, and really does work. It might not be trivial, but if you keep smiling, others will smile back, and that helps get the ball rolling.

Now if you are going to have an active conversation within yourself which derides the smile (things like “This is so stupid” or “I’m never going to feel better doing this”), you’re going to have trouble. You’re giving your body conflicting information. If you are set on feeling bad, by all means, don’t smile. It might just ruin your day. 8(

For those of us who aren’t predisposed to gloom, a smile can be a wonderful way to perk up our day. The warmth that sweeps over me when I smile at someone and they notice, then smile back, literally changes my day for the better. I try to do it multiple times each day.

If that’s a bit much for you to start with, try it just once a week. Select a day, and smile at just one person. Then relax until next week, when you will do it again. When you can tolerate that level of smiling and feeling good, you can work your way up to once a day. Eventually, you can work up to two or more times each day.

There was a little bit of humor in the prior paragraph, but on a serious note, do what you can, and advance when you are ready. And if you ever want a real challenge, smile at a baby, and don’t stop smiling until the baby stops smiling. Your face will hurt, as you’re not used to smiling that much, and that’s a sad commentary on our lives as ‘modern’ humans.

Keep smiling. It gives a feeling of dignity and worth to others, and to you. Smile for your own good, smile for the good of others, and smile because it’s the beginning of love. And if there’s one thing the world needs more of, it’s love.

From: Twitter, @Notebook
confirmed at : http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/mothertere121813.html
Photo by davidhorne

Happy Birthday to Mother Teresa of Calcutta, born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu on 27 August 1910.