5 Tips To Smile More

I noticed during these crazy times it can feel difficult to find the energy to stay positive due to being stuck at home and overall fear of this whole pandemic. I realized something I haven't been doing lately is smiling. This includes smiling for the family and friends I know are still safe or even for the hardest reason: learning to smile for all the difficult aspects of life currently. Below are some tips I plan to incorporate into my life to smile more and I hope they help you too.

1. Start every time you look at the mirror
• I realized it can be a great feeling to wake up in the morning and face myself in the mirror with a quick smile no matter how you look from getting out of bed. Staring at that other person with a smile is a sign of acceptance and satisfaction with the person you are and starts your day on a positive note. I noticed, if I walk by my mirror multiple times in the day, flashing a smile helps me practice building this habit too.
2. You don't need to use teeth
• Smiling can be done with not too much effort by just using your face muscles to lift a depressed look to a more neutral or even positive look. At the end of the day, people find smiles more attractive than sad looks all the time. In the business setting, most sellers invite customers this way through warm and inviting smiles so it's definitely a skill to practice and can take little to no effort.
3. Think of reasons to be thankful for the life you live
• When I think of all the things I have, a roof over my head or food to eat, it can feel a lot easier to smile. I noticed that gratitude gives me a sort of energy that allows me to work longer. Plus, when we are thankful it can feel difficult to find reasons to keep a frown on. More reasons to be thankful would be for family, friends, and just the cool ways you can stay home and unwind even if you're at home alone.
4. Smiling during difficulties
• This is a skill I've been trying to practice but I'm sure will pay off in the long run. When you do a difficult task and find the energy to smile you may feel a bit crazy at first but it will have the power to change your view of the situation in front of you. Life will not always be easy there will always be difficult moments where things don't always go your way so finding the strength to smile through these many hard times will allow you to live a more positive life. Even if the world surrounds you with depressed looks, sometimes a smile can change the flow of a negative mood. People will wonder how you are doing it! Heroes don't just stay sad, they find reasons to smile because they know the situation can change in an instant.
5. Recount the moments
• At the end of the day or even before bed, try to remember all the moments you found the strength to put on a smile today, found others smiling around, or even put a smile on someone else's face. You can even recount these moments by journaling and possibly call it "The Smiles Journal." Thinking of all the moments will show that you've been making progress lately and didn't let the appearance of others or your own thoughts get you down. During these Coronavirus times, it can feel very powerful to look back and know that you found the courage to keep a smile on your face when it felt like there was no energy left to even try one.

Smiling is a sign of hope. It can separate defeat from victory because it rewires the mind to say "I don't give up." My goal with this post is to add more positivity to the lives of others in the simplest ways possible even if it's as small as smiling. I hope you find something helpful here.

Here is a scene from My Hero Academia that illustrates this well: