Smiles

 

     Have you ever given thought to your smile?  Some people work very hard to have those perfectly parted lips and those shiny white, pearly teeth to express their inner emotion of happiness or adulation.  But, really, how important is a smile?  I used to tell my children, “Keep smiling.  Then people can only guess what you are up to!”  Sometime I think they tried to use that sheepish grin to get something passed their mother and me.

 

     A smile is formed primarily by flexing the muscles at the sides of the mouth. Some smiles include a contraction of the muscles at the corner of the eyes, an action known as a Duchenne smile. Among humans, a smile expresses pleasure, sociability, happiness, joy or amusement.

 

     Several years ago, my wife and I had the pleasure to travel to Paris, France and to London, England for a religious assembly.  Upon returning one of the questions we were most often asked was “How did you get along not being able to speak the language?”  I guess that some had forgotten that in England they DO speak English, which is very close to American!  Anyway, I would generally tell them that my SMILE got me by regardless of the language barrier!

 

     In 1924 a study was done that showed us there are 19 types of smiles.  You may find it enjoyable reading about this study and the various types of smiles at http://www.mashupcorner.com/did-you-know-there-are-19-types-of-smile/

 

     However, to show you the variety that this study exposed, they are:

 

1.      Duchenne smile

2.      Fear smile

3.      Miserable smile

4.      Damp smile

5.      Embarrassed smile

6.      Qualifier smile

7.      Contempt smile

8.      The malicious joy

9.      Fake smile

 

     You are probably going to be as disappointed as I was when you get to the article and find out that it only lists 9 types of smiles.  I couldn’t figure out if they forgot to include the other ten or if there was an error in the title of the article???  I think you may also enjoy the article at https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20170407-why-all-smiles-are-not-the-same#:~:text=Of%2019%20different%20types%20of,or%20that%20we've%20lost.  It might give you more details on our smiles.

 

     Many times, we smile because we are happy.  But there are times when we smile for many other reasons.  Often those times may be simply because we feel it socially expected!  We smile because we think that others are waiting for us to do so!

 

     We are some of the strangest creatures!  Perhaps most of us don’t have that “Mona Lisa” smile, or maybe we’re not the type to have that slight smile that suddenly erupts into a huge, boisterous laugh!  But being able to smile in various situations is within all of us.  Why?  Because we’re only human!

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"SMILE

It costs you nothing to give it away!"