Yes… Just Smile
Did you know that one smile equals the brain stimulation of 2,000 bars of chocolate?! According to the work and study of Ron Gutman, smiling helps you and everyone around you live a longer, healthier, and happier life.
They studied baseball players, and found that players with wide, beaming smiles lived an average of 79.9 years; non-smiling players lived 72.9 years, and slight-smiling players lived an average of 75 years.
Smiles predict marriage success: In a study of childhood pictures, 31% of non-smilers experienced divorce, while only 11% of smilers were divorced.
So of course I had to check my childhood pictures to see if I was smiling:
No! Wait! That doesn’t count. DO YOU SEE THE ELASTIC ON THAT DRESS? It was the TORTURE dress. I vividly remember how horrid and uncomfortable that dress was. Hopefully I was normally more like this:
When I was a piano teacher, I wanted to make sure that if a student happened to glance at me, they’d see a wide, sincere, supportive smile that communicated enthusiasm and fun.
Do you have any idea how hard it is to smile like that for two freakin’ hours straight? By the time everyone left after the reception, the whole top and back of my head would be seizing up and I’d have a headache for hours.
Here’s the video of Ron Gutman’s talk, which is great:
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Natasha Fondren is a writer traveling the U.S. in a camper with her four cats. She is currently enjoying the lizards and desert heat in Arizona.
You were such a cute little girl. The 2nd one, on the bed, I had the same hair style all through grade school! On my good days. lol
It is a great video. I’ll have to smile more often.
I hated that hair cut, Edie! Or at least I did by the time grade school was over. They called it the “page boy,” I think. I didn’t want to be a boy! I wanted to grow my hair out SO badly!
You were so cute! Ha! Love the look on your face with the torture dress. I’d frame that.
Oh no! LOL!
Totally agree with everything here. And thanks for the Gutman video. I’m definitely going to watch it today.
It’s a good one, Kathy!
eek, I’m not a big smiler.
You’d be the exception to the rule, Charles. *grins*
Well, guess that’s good news for me, then. lol. I’ve always been known as a smiler, and even called “Smiley”.
Love the photos – I had that hair, too, and one of those torture dresses. They called that pulled elastic stuff “smocking” didn’t they? Or I be confused. Wouldn’t be the first time.
That’s awesome, Kate!
*shudders* I hated that dress so much, I can’t tell you!!!!
I love this post – so true!! One of the biggest reasons I plan to keep telling Gabrielle “Make sure you marry someone who is happy and looks at the world positively!”
Awwww! I really hope Brie finds someone awesome who cherishes her for all her specialness!