"Oh, how felicitous this transient life would be if the world is always smiling at you and you at them", as I tell and smile at myself, teased by the jovial lyrics of You Are My Sunshine. Considering the seemingly relentless turbulences in life we are facing today, we tend to forget the brighter part of life. They say, for every cloud there is a silver lining; smiles would certainly be that silver lining that embroider even the darkest cloud. Yea, sometimes we just tend to forget the act - the act of smiling.
But how do we smile always without exceptions? Nay, I do not think we have to show the smile in our face at every occasions of hardship and solemnness; people would think one is out of mind and even heartless when someone smiles during a burial ceremony. Also, in certain occasions, smiling does hurt especially when that smile is forced, and even worse, faked. Therefore, what makes smiling still a viable option for curing an emotional wound, then, if it is not always applicable for every situations?
My answer to this is while the physical action of smiling may not be at all times relevant, the sincere intention, the attitude and values associated with the act of smiling would be definitely the reasons why we should smile in most occasions. A sincere smile suggests a lot of positive attributes: warm greetings, satisfaction, gratitude, love, amicableness, sincerity, etc. Few would dispute that those positive attributes should be around at all times.
But drawing a sincere smile is not always easy. While a smile can be drawn anytime - be it forced or fabricated, a genuine smile needs certain preconditions that needs to be fulfilled before one can really throw that golden smile. This, I think, the song "You Are My Sunshine" has something to tell:
"My mommy told me something,
That little girls should know,
It's all about the devil,
And I've learned to hate him so."
That's right, the bottom line of happiness is avoiding everything evil. While saying it is way much easier than implementing it, if we reflect back to ourselves, when did we last made that big, sincere smile towards others and when did we last receive the smile of similar nature from others? Perhaps a time for self-reflection would do...
"But hey, I saw that babe in the TV smiling at me just now," one may argue. Well, how many of those smiles really make one happy? It is the heart that can answer.
Regardless, smiling should be a positive attribute for many cases - though the intention and reaction of smiling may differ. Should we smile? YES, for "... smilers never lose, frowners never win" (in emotional sense)!
But how do we smile always without exceptions? Nay, I do not think we have to show the smile in our face at every occasions of hardship and solemnness; people would think one is out of mind and even heartless when someone smiles during a burial ceremony. Also, in certain occasions, smiling does hurt especially when that smile is forced, and even worse, faked. Therefore, what makes smiling still a viable option for curing an emotional wound, then, if it is not always applicable for every situations?
My answer to this is while the physical action of smiling may not be at all times relevant, the sincere intention, the attitude and values associated with the act of smiling would be definitely the reasons why we should smile in most occasions. A sincere smile suggests a lot of positive attributes: warm greetings, satisfaction, gratitude, love, amicableness, sincerity, etc. Few would dispute that those positive attributes should be around at all times.
But drawing a sincere smile is not always easy. While a smile can be drawn anytime - be it forced or fabricated, a genuine smile needs certain preconditions that needs to be fulfilled before one can really throw that golden smile. This, I think, the song "You Are My Sunshine" has something to tell:
"My mommy told me something,
That little girls should know,
It's all about the devil,
And I've learned to hate him so."
That's right, the bottom line of happiness is avoiding everything evil. While saying it is way much easier than implementing it, if we reflect back to ourselves, when did we last made that big, sincere smile towards others and when did we last receive the smile of similar nature from others? Perhaps a time for self-reflection would do...
"But hey, I saw that babe in the TV smiling at me just now," one may argue. Well, how many of those smiles really make one happy? It is the heart that can answer.
Regardless, smiling should be a positive attribute for many cases - though the intention and reaction of smiling may differ. Should we smile? YES, for "... smilers never lose, frowners never win" (in emotional sense)!
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