Day #30 in A Year of Positivity

“Smile in the mirror. Do that every morning
and you’ll start to see a big difference in your life.”
– Yoko Ono

Hello and welcome to Day #30 in A Year of Positivity! On my way home from occupational therapy, I saw a sign on the road that talked about how smiles are a light in the window to the soul. It wasn’t exactly the quote I wanted to share, but it inspired me and reminded me what a smile can do.

So, for today’s post, I’m sharing a quote provided by Yoko Ono, “Smile in the mirror. Do that every morning and you’ll start to see a big different in your life.” A genuine smile is attractive and so beautiful, and smiles are quite powerful. According to Aura Glow, they even have 11 science-backed benefits to them.

Interestingly, a smile actually uses fewer muscles in the face than a frown does. They also release the happy hormones we know as endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin. These are the hormones responsible for lifting our moods, reducing our stress, and relaxing our bodies. Smiling lowers blood pressure, and they strengthen our immune systems, as it can boost infection-fighting antibodies and raise immune cell levels, which overall can reduce our risk of diseases.

A surprising fact I found on Aura Glow’s list is that smiles seem to help improve our endurance when we run. I’m going to remember this one, y’all! Remember when I mentioned above that smiling reduces blood pressure? Well, a smile will also lower the heart rate, and this means that smiling will lower the risk of heart disease. In addition, smiling will reduce anxiety and pain, and it strengthens relationships, and it’s linked to longevity of one’s life.

I strongly encourage everyone reading this to read Aura Glow’s article on this for more details, as it also includes five creative ways to smile more at the bottom of the article. Something that this article doesn’t really go into is that when you genuinely smile towards other people, you will more than likely somehow brighten their day. Sometimes, a smile is all someone needs, even if that person is a stranger on the street, or at the local grocery store, or sitting at a table near you in a restaurant.

Based on the scientific facts we just went over, I would say Yoko Ono was onto something amazing when she authored today’s quote. The more we smile, the more positive we are, and that’s a good thing, right? I’ll be brutally honest and say that I’ve never smiled at myself in the mirror in the morning with intention, at least not in any moment I can recall. That being said, I’m totally giving this method a shot.

So, what do you say? Are you with me on this?
Let’s smile every morning in the mirror with intention!