{"id":956,"date":"2022-08-09T18:14:29","date_gmt":"2022-08-09T18:14:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/debbiepetrina.com\/?p=956"},"modified":"2022-11-14T15:53:20","modified_gmt":"2022-11-14T15:53:20","slug":"the-power-of-a-smile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debbiepetrina.com\/?p=956","title":{"rendered":"The Power of a Smile"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-957 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/debbiepetrina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Universal-Smile-300x231.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"232\" height=\"181\" \/>Don\u2019t just smile for photos. The few seconds it takes to smile\u2014anytime and often&#8211;has tremendous value and it\u2019s free.<\/p>\n<p>My favorite columnist, Harvey Mackay, reminded me that it\u2019s National Smile Week, held annually during the second week of August.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Did you know these facts about smiling?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A smile improves your looks and takes years off your appearance.<\/li>\n<li>Smiling makes you more approachable, increases your attractiveness, makes you appear more intelligent and improves relationships. Smiling conveys a message of happiness, approachability, and confidence. (These are things managers typically look for in employees.)<\/li>\n<li>Health benefits from smiling are enormous, Research has shown that a smile is a natural antidepressant; it reduces stress\/anxiety and elevates moods. Smiles can help the immune system, lower blood pressure, and even serve as a pain reliever.<\/li>\n<li>Because smiling has the power to\u00a0reduce stress, it increases your ability to deal with trying situations.\u00a0 Why? Smiling boosts endorphin output and forces us to breathe deeper, resulting in a calmer outlook and increased coping ability.<\/li>\n<li>Smiling encourages positive thinking. When dealing with a negative situation, a candid smile inspires positivity.<\/li>\n<li>If you\u2019re having a bad day, force yourself to smile. Research suggests that the act of smiling can actually trick the brain into\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.scientificamerican.com\/article\/smile-it-could-make-you-happier\/\">feeling happier<\/a>, no matter how bad the current situation may be.<\/li>\n<li>Smiling is contagious. Just think \u2014 you can help another improve their well-being by giving them a chance to smile back! Happy people influence the people closest to them and provide a boost of good energy. So, next time you\u2019re feeling down, seek out your happiest friend and let the smiles begin.<\/li>\n<li>No matter where you are in the world, smiling is recognized as a universal display of happiness and good nature.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In my book <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3CyU3R2\">Managing MS<\/a>, here\u2019s one of the tips I share for how to deal with people when you have MS:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left; padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><em>&#8220;Smiles and kindness go a long way&#8211;<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>Even if you feel crabby, fake a smile anyway. We need people and most of us like to interact with people. I\u2019m almost always nice and smiling at people. When I ask for help, which in my case I have to ask for help a lot, I get what I need with a smile back. If I\u2019m in a grocery store and can\u2019t reach an item, I\u2019ll nicely ask \u201cWhen you have a moment, would you reach something for me?\u201d I always get help, usually followed by the offer to let them know if I need anything else. <\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>When I was in the hospital last year, even though I felt miserable I always was kind and patient with the nurses. The nurses would actually give me extra attention, because they would remark how cranky everyone else was. They would sometimes hang out for a few minutes to yak, which actually elevated my moods. It\u2019s hard to do when you yourself are feeling so miserable, but the positive responses back are worth it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t you think that if people smiled more, it would help make the world a kinder and happier place? While smiling certainly doesn\u2019t fix all problems, it certainly has the power to make us feel just a little better at any given moment.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-966 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/debbiepetrina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/WD-SelfPub-2022-WinnerSeals-HM-300x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Debbie Petrina\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/strong><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><em><strong>Author of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3CyU3R2\">Managing MS\u00a0 \u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/em><strong><em><br \/>\nModerator, MultipleSclerosis.net\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Don\u2019t just smile for photos. The few seconds it takes to smile\u2014anytime and often&#8211;has tremendous value and it\u2019s free. My favorite columnist, Harvey Mackay, reminded me that it\u2019s National Smile Week, held annually during the second week of August. &nbsp; &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/debbiepetrina.com\/?p=956\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,35,1],"tags":[147,185,222,278,307,455],"class_list":["post-956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health-wellness","category-relationships","category-uncategorized","tag-health-and-wellness","tag-ms","tag-ms-communication","tag-ms-relationships","tag-multiple-sclerosis","tag-smile"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/debbiepetrina.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/debbiepetrina.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/debbiepetrina.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debbiepetrina.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debbiepetrina.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=956"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/debbiepetrina.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":968,"href":"https:\/\/debbiepetrina.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/956\/revisions\/968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/debbiepetrina.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debbiepetrina.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debbiepetrina.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}