The Smile Initiative: Power of a Smile

"Change the world one smile at a time" or "Make someone smile today". Lately I have been tagging my posts on Facebook with these lines. It's a mission I have decided to take on. Hopefully by the time you finish reading this you will have a better understanding why I believe so strongly in this concept.

The Power of a Smile

My freshman year in college is when I first realized the power of making people smile. Me and a really good friend of mine would walk around campus and we would say hello and smile at anyone who looked down in anyway. Sometime it would be followed up with a compliment. You tend to see a lot of people on campus looking like life is over during the normal week of classes. At the time it was kind of a joke to us. We would compliment someone and soon as we made it out of earshot, we would try to guess their problem. We would say things like "man, they must have failed a test" or "they just broke up with their boyfriend". The reaction we got from people was amazing. Their whole expression would change, their body language changed. They would smile back and it would seem that for that brief 3 seconds of conversation everything was alright. That person was noticed, it wasn't the end of the world. 

We all hear about the kids who go unnoticed and bullied and then they snap and shoot up someplace. If only someone took the time to just say hi to that person, maybe those situations could have all been avoided. Would it hurt to try? Would it take much effort to tell someone that they look nice? Most of the time you don't even have to break The stride in your walk. How do you know that your words to a stranger can't save a life? 

Think about all the times that you have felt good in your life? Were you smiling? I am almost positive that you were. The best feelings in life always go hand in hand with smiling. So my mission is sort of like "Pay it Forward". Everyday I try and make a stranger smile. Something simple like holding a door open for the person behind you, paying a compliment to a random person in passing, telling a joke to someone, or simply just saying hello. If the opportunity arises were I am able to help someone out and they try to thank me, I just ask that they do the same if the opportunity presents itself to them in the future.

The way that I see it, if everyone in the world is going out of their way to make a stranger smile then we would live in a better world. The "Golden Rule" in just about every religion is "Do unto other, as you would like others to do unto you" or some variation of that phrase. We can change the world one smile at a time. We just all have to do our part. The light of a smile can push out the darkness that has clouded our world and bring about a new day. Have a great day family and make someone smile today.

Peace,
Koda K.