Smile, though your heart is aching
Smile, even though it’s breaking
When there are clouds in the sky
You’ll get by.
If you smile through your fear and sorrow
Smile and maybe tomorrow
You’ll see the sun come shining through
For you.
Perhaps you are familiar with the song ‘Smile’*.
I’ve always loved this song and tend to hum or sing it to myself when I am feeling blue, sad or sentimental. It invariably brings a smile to my face, a heartfelt smile; sometimes combined with bittersweet tears. Not just any smile will do the trick to heal the moment.
There is a difference between a smile that is merely plastered on your face as a deflective commentary or cover-up and a soulful, positive and emotionally approachable ‘turning up of your cheeks and mouth’. In 1862 French neurologist G.B. Duchenne observed that there are different ways to smile (mechanically), but only one type of smile reflects positive emotions. Really? WOW!
Simply put: a smile that involves both your eye and mouth muscles is mood elevating, stress reducing and positively charged; a pleasurably contagious kind of smile. If only your mouth muscles are involved you are most likely masking something that is less than pleasurable.
A genuine smile can be healing and heart-connecting. Duchenne offers an exercise to create it from the ‘outside-in’. I’ll show you how to evoke a smile from inside-out that can make a positive healing difference.
Sit quietly and comfortably; easefully close your eyes. Bring to mind someone (i.e. a pet or person), a favorite place, or you may choose to call to mind a song or an event that brings you joy. Allow that thought to wash through you and imagine yourself smiling. As you imagine the smile, actually feel it emerge and appear on your face. Remain in this state for as long as you like. When you feel complete, open your eyes, gaze in a mirror and notice how you feel. Remember the smile and see it magically appear!
*Music composed by Charlie Chaplin, as accompaniment to his 1936 film ‘Modern Times’. Lyrics composed and added to the tune in 1954 by John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons.
©2016 Katharine Gilpin
21
OCT
OCT
0