Pep Talks for Stepping Ahead…. No 1
THE VALUE OF A SMILE !
SMILE! How often have you heard that good advice before? How often have you walked down the street and noticed the lack of smiling faces?
A recent survey showed that in observed situations men smiled at 12% of the other men, but they smiled at 70% of the women! Many people smile only when necessary or when they are trying to impress someone.
Smiling has a positive effect on others! Notice how people respond more positively and more favourably to a smile. Department stores have discovered that their sales go up as much as 20% when they ‘teach’ their sales assistants to give service with a smile! A smile is a way of communicating. It is a way of telling another person you are happy to see them, things are going well and it’s good to be living. A smile is a way of setting the tone of an encounter with another human being – it can be the link that makes the experience a pleasant one – and so often it is forgotten !
WRITE YOUR THOUGHTS WITH A SMILE !
A smile is a way of animating pleasant thoughts and feelings and comes from within. Practice smiling today. Smile for yourself in the mirror. To start your day right – start with a smite! Smile for your family, smile for the people you see while driving to work, smile for the people you work with, smile for those you see in the elevator, on the street, in the store. Smile for anyone you see. When you smile for someone you are doing it for them and not ‘at’ them – and you will notice that they will begin to respond by smiling back for you. A smile is a way of saying “Thankyou… you have made my day. You have made me feel noticed, important, special and cheered me for a moment.”
SMILING… THE GOOD HABIT !
When building the habit of smiling, experiment with many different ways. A popular way to practice is by using the vowel method. Look in the mirror and smile saying ‘A’ – the friendly amused smile. ‘E’ is the greeting, passing on the street smile. ‘ T’ is the laughing smile, ‘O’ – “I’m having a good time” sort of smile and ‘U’ is the relaxed, ” I’m glad to know you” kind of smile. Some people feel they don’t have a pleasant smile and so don’t smile too often. The truth is that what they’re really saying is, “1 have a hard time letting my feelings show!” There seems to be a very normal reluctance in human nature to expose to others how we feel inside. If this is a strong feeling it may cause a stiff, mechanical, held back smile. Practising in private, in front of the mirror, often helps this problem. Try smiling with your eyes, eye-brows, the corners of your mouth, making sure most of your top teeth are showing, and RELAX ! There is no gift you can give as inexpensively as a smile and it adds joy and brightness to your day, and the day of those you smile for! The habit of smiling can become a valuable source of strength when facing those situations which may otherwise cause you to despair and think of giving up. As Ella Wheeler Wilcox says in her poem ‘Worthwhile’:
“Tis easy enough to be pleasant when life flows along like a song: But the man worthwhile is the one who will smile when everything goes dead wrong”
SMILE ! – Make today a happy day for yourself and for others. You will find it is a good habit to get into ………….and this habit will bring rich rewards for all !
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