Dear Jessica Brennan,

There has been so much written over the years about the benefits of smiles.

The music for Charlie Chaplin’s, Smile (though your heart is breaking) was written in 1936 with the lyrics added in 1954 and they supported the real belief in the world at that time, that smiling can be the path to take you through your sadness and into better times.

People are better looking when they smile, that’s for sure. In the musical Annie, we learned that, You’re never fully dressed without a smile.

Smiles are contagious, after all.  When you’re smiling (the whole world smiles with you) was written in 1928 to remind us that others will mirror what we are emitting. This was an early Law of Attraction song.

From Bye Bye Birdie the 60’s show, we found out that we can change our mood if we (Brush off the clouds and cheer up), Put On A Happy Face.

It isn’t always easy to smile, and sometimes it doesn’t help. When life gives you true misery, trying to smile feels fake and walking around grinning would seem like a ridiculous thing to do. Sometimes you get to be sad and tortured and just grumpy when life gets bleak.

Much of the time though, in those bad-day scenarios, the best way out of a pity-party is changing your frown to a smile. It does make you feel better, and it encourages others around you to respond in a more positive way.

Also, doing something nice for someone else, puts a smile on their face and then immediately puts you in a good mood. I know you’re great at this Dear Jessica. Just today you told me, “I was having a bad day so I went and bought a little purse for the lady who works at the store near my apartment, because she always says she likes my purse so much.  She was so happy and that made me happy.”

A lot of people’s minds don’t automatically go to that place when they are gloomy, which is one of the many reasons why your Mum thinks you’re cool.  

In any case, I was at a Habitat for Humanity conference a little while back and a story was told about a family that had endured a great deal of hardship, and I heard a quote about smiles that will stay with me forever.  It hit me deeper than any of the aforementioned lyrics.

When the father of this family was asked how he and his family had coped with the awful situation they had been dealt he replied with a Stephenie Meyer quote:

“When life gives you a hundred reasons to cry, show life that you have a thousand reasons to smile.”

Love Mum

xo


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