Blog@GraceJunction

Somethings, they say, are contagious, and one of them is a smile. One of the things that we have lost or forgotten in our daily lives is, how to smile!

I was once getting my shoes polished by a cobbler on the street. After his work, I handed over the money to him and turned around, and somebody immediately said, why don’t you just say thank you and smile? My first reaction was Smile and that too at a cobbler on the street who is getting his money? Why? Well, we men more often tend to keep the macho image in us and we often think it is cool to have a stern face and it fits the image of an achiever, which we have so many times borrowed from our bosses, the hard task masters, the super achievers and many times people who personify all our dreams!!

Smile I should say is a form of greeting or pleasantry which gets exchanged between two individuals. Most of us use it only with acquaintances and sometimes even they are not so privileged. We as Indians are very conservative sometimes and that gets reflected in our facial expressions also. We don’t want to give any impression to any stranger that he is welcome. This also gets reflected in many areas of our lives, just look at the houses and flats that we built, most of them have walls and gates, which are so imposing, which is normally built to keep away any unwanted elements unlike the open spaces or low walls which are normally used in the western world. The feeling of insecurity or the absence of it gets reflected, on our faces.

Hospitality I believe is measured not by the treatment we as individuals mete out to our friends and guests, but how hospitable we are towards strangers. Tough lesson, but one which I am increasingly trying to learn from people around me.

I have often come across many westerners while staying at hotels. We bang in to them in the elevators, the lobby or the restaurant, and more often than not, they always have this broad smile, which makes me feel so good and I can’t help but respond with a broad smile. Smiling is an asset and if used lavishly, but prudently, will always get a smile in return. This is one emotion which always invokes a similar reaction unless of course you are a ‘road Romeo’.

Smile at a person, and I can bet that it will spread in to your day and the people around you. I smiled at a shop keeper and he also gave me a smile back and before he could hide his teeth, he had unknowingly flashed that beautiful smile to the next customer, I walked out of that place feeling like a visionary, a trend setter, probably in a very small way! Try it !

Smile is also the most inexpensive way to change your looks. Smile and people will always feel that you have the most pleasant nature. Not only that, in the smile, all other inabilities and drawbacks of the person looks very small. You are able to take every mistake, of a smiling person. That is why a quote says ‘A smile can help you overlook the unattractive, tolerate the unpleasant, cope with the unexpected, and smile through the unbearable’. – Anonymous

So, just want to say keep smiling. It might be the only good thing in a person’s life on that day. Use it, flash it and spread it. If life is short, still smile; it just takes a second! Don’t think twice. Give it and it makes life worthwhile for the recipient.

Many would like to say that we have increased the use of smileys (custom emoticons) and we are using them everywhere, well, if you forget to use how to use your face, for those grand upper curves, then you are at a big loss, because one day Microsoft might get that smiley patented and then you would be at their mercy!

We as citizens of this city, nation and more importantly we at Grace are committed to spread the light, bring you the truth. Truth is joy enjoined and joy is smile enjoined and so we urge you to smile and spread it too!

We also welcome you to join us in this effort! God Bless!

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 15th, 2008 at 7:41 am and is filed under Navin, Purpose of Life, Society, Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.