How A Smile Can Change Your World
December 28, 2009 by Steven Diamond
Filed under Daily Blog, Uncategorized
Here’s what Wikipedia says about a smile:
A smile is a facial expression formed by flexing those muscles most notably near both ends of the mouth. The smile can also be found around the eyes. Among humans, it is customarily an expression denoting pleasure, happiness, or amusement, but can also be an involuntary expression of anxiety, in which case it is known as a grimace. Cross-cultural studies have shown that smiling is used as a means of communicating emotions throughout the world.
Happiness is most often the motivating cause of a smile. Among animals, the exposure of teeth, which may bear a resemblance to a smile, is often used as a threat or warning display—known as a snarl—or a sign of submission. In chimpanzees, it can also be a sign of fear. The study of smiles is a part of gelotology, psychology, and linguistics, comprising various theories of affect, humor, and laughter.
Many biologists think the smile originated as a sign of fear. Primalogist Signe Preuschoft traces the smile back over 30 million years of evolution to a “fear grin” stemming from monkeys and apes who often used barely clenched teeth to portray to predators that they were harmless. Biologists believe the smile has evolved differently among species and especially among humans. Humans smile differently. Some show their teeth when they smile, some don’t.
Biology is not the only academic discipline that interprets the smile. Those who study kinesics view the smile as an affect display. It can communicate feelings such as love, happiness, pride, contempt, and embarrassment.
Here’s what I say about a smile:
A smile can get you a job. A smile can help attract good things to you. It can convey the honesty of your emotions. It can make someone sick feel at peace. It can help someone get to know you better. A smile can lift your spirits and the spirits of those around you. It can show someone that you care. It can be a guiding light in the face of darkness. It can make someone laugh.
A smile can touch another persons soul. It can create a new direction. It can heal the sick. It can change someone’s day. A smile can brighten a room. It can open doors. It can make someone feel safe. It can show love when there wasn’t even a trace just moments before.
A smile can do all of that and more, the best part of a smile is that it’s free.
Give as many as you can to all whom you meet and watch your world begin to change.
Has a simple smile ever made the difference in your life?
Please leave a comment and share with us your story below.
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yes I do think a smile can open doors, but I sadly disagree in the part where it says that it can get you a job , mmm I don’t know ,just think that nowdays smiling is overathed , sopecially with all the consumer service madness ,u recive a lot of fake smiles, if is real yes I do agree a smiley can CHANGE THE WORLD , and yes this article just draw a big smile on my face thanks !!
Alberto,
Your point is well taken. Thank you for your honest comment.
Steven
Oh Steven, Ah timing. . .
The clip you shared here, “Validation” touched my heart and indeed made me smile. A smile is more than a facial grimace,; it’s a sharing of Big Love between people.
A colleague last night asked, “Why do people like you so much?” my answer surprised even me. “I have a secret,” I said, “it’s love.” Whether we admit it or not, even to ourselves, we humans want to be appreciated. When I greet a guest, I sincerely want them to come in and feel good. I open my heart and see the bigger picture, the shining child inside.
One of the ways I access that feeling is to know, no matter what happens, I’ll be OK — long experience has taught me that, so I risk and open my heart. That safe space I offer evokes a smile 99.9% of the time AND I feel wonderful too. We’re all the same — we just wear different costumes.
Here is something someone emailed to me and I thought it was worth posting here.. hope you enjoy it.
Why, exactly, do humans smile?
This question puzzled anthropologists for hundreds of years.
The smile is instinctive, one of a thousand fascination cues we use to persuade others to connect with us. Yet from an evolutionary perspective, the smile makes no sense.
In the animal kingdom, retracting the mouth corners and baring teeth is a sign of aggression. Yet in humans, this same gesture signals openness.
{So why are humans different?}
* Humans have a hardwired connection between pitch of voice and facial expression. A simple experiment: Sing the highest note that you’re capable of, and notice how you raise your chin and eyebrows (almost like you’re cooing to a baby). Then, sing the lowest note. See how your chin and eyebrows lower, in a more aggressive expression?
The answer: Bigger animals have bigger mouths, and therefore lower vocal vibrations, which conveys dominance. Smaller animals have smaller mouth cavities, and their higher voices communicate friendliness or submission. It’s why a Rottweiler’s growl is more threatening than a Pomeranian’s.
When humans smile, we pull our cheek flesh back against our teeth, which makes our mouth cavity smaller, and raises the pitch of our voice. Presto, we sound friendlier essentially turning ourselves from a big animal into a smaller one. Smiling, anthropologists realized, began as a way to sound less threatening then evolved into a way to look more approachable.
The next time you become captivated by a person (or a brand or idea), without even realizing it, you’re most likely under the influence of the fascination triggers.
Sally Hogshead – is a speaker, brand consultant, and author of the upcoming book,␣FASCINATE: Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation.