You may remember being told as a child to smile and not frown, because smiling is a lesser strain on your facial muscles than frowning. The folklore has been that it takes 17 muscles to smile, and 43 to frown – This is just a myth. Anatomical muscle analysis reveals a basic smile uses 10-12 muscles, while a basic frown uses roughly 6-11 muscles. This does not take into account a wide grin or an intense scowl. So, the parental justification (it is good for you) to always smile is way outdated, although there is no argument that smiling is always better for you than frowning.
Look around you. You will see 3 categories of persons. The minority with a “slight (albeit forced) smile on their faces”, and the majority who will be expressionless, “no eye contact and non-committal”. A slimmer minority appears to always have a fleeting or intense frown on their faces and seem to be grappling with severe, insurmountable problems.
I am not promoting that one walks around with a (plastic) smile on their face. Clearly, in a public environment with strangers around you, we will not wear a friendly smile. We will stay reserved and keep to ourselves. But walking into a room where you know some of the people, even as acquaintances, a smile emanates friendliness and a calming aura. It is the normal thing to do. Bridges and pathways emerge for new friendships and relationships to develop when we smile.
Without any spoken words, when we smile, we communicate and connect as human beings. A smile towards someone is magical. Although it is a facial expression, the aura is instantly teleported across crowded rooms via visual line-of-sight links to the recipient. It often invokes a similar spontaneous response, with the individual auras connecting the two persons.
In the Islamic/Arabic tradition, the spoken words (with a smile), Assalamu-alaikum, establish the same calming conditions. It means “Peace be upon you,” indicating that you come in peace, as a friend.
When formally introduced to someone, a handshake is always accompanied by a smile. Smiling offers clear physical and mental health benefits, while frowning is primarily a natural signal of discontent or a need to disconnect.
See how a simple smile can enlarge or add to your circles of relationships and enhance your life experiences.
