BELIEVE me, with just a smile, things can be very
different. In our dealings with others, either planned or unplanned, a
smile can make a lot of wonders. And in our difficult moments, a smile
may be all that is needed to lighten things and infuse hope and
optimism to the parties concerned.
I strongly suggest that we smile always and that our smile
be genuine that comes from the heart that in turn is immersed in God.
For sure, when smiling becomes a general norm, the world would be a
much better place to live in, even if problems, crises and suffering
may still continue to haunt us.
And that’s simply because a smile shows nothing other than
the goodness of the heart. It reflects an attitude of openness,
transparency, simplicity that are always a winner especially in an age
tested by all kinds of pressures. As such, a smile can always attract
everyone, irrespective of our different situations and conditions.
For one, a smile softens hearts that are burdened by some
problems. It has a way of brightening the environment. It can trigger
a chain reaction of goodness among people who often find themselves in
some slippery slope of anguish and tension all the way to sadness and
depression.
You smile at a person, or even at a stranger, and almost
invariably he or she would smile back. A smile facilitates friendship
and many other things like dialogue, empathy and compassion, easy
acceptance of an inconvenient truth, understanding people who are very
different from us. A smile is like “sugar that makes the medicine go
down.”
A smile speaks a different language that often transcends
the powers of words and logic. It possesses a certain magic that
defies explanation. It has a way of directly touching people’s heart
and soul with a warmth that can melt away walls and barriers among us.
With a smile, we can easily enter into the mind and heart
of others. Reading their thoughts and discerning their desires are
made easy. Adjusting to their ways, adapting to the how they are
become almost effortless.
And with a smile too, we can more quickly open our mind
and heart to the reality of things. The subjectivity of our
perceptions can coincide with the objectivity of things. With a smile,
suspending our preferences and biases to accommodate different
opinions and even beliefs, become less troublesome. More than that,
with a smile, we can easily adjust our words and behavior to the
persons and situations at hand.
And the good thing about all this is that we don’t have to
exert much effort to smile. It can readily be done. There may only be
some minor difficulty in this regard, as in having to overcome certain
physical or temperamental limitations that can work against smiling.
But these should not be a big problem.
What can constitute as a major challenge is to make our
smile genuine and sincere, one that comes from the heart that in turn
is immersed in love with God and with others. That’s when a smile can
have its fullest good effects.
And making that smile genuine, sincere and divinely
inspired can comprise our daily task of sanctification. We don’t have
to look for some extraordinary occasions of martyrdom to attain our
daily acts of heroic sanctity. We don’t have to think of many gimmicks
to be effective in our friendships and work of apostolate.
In this regard, we have to learn how to handle our moods
that we all have. Little by little and everyday, we should gain more
mastery and dominion over our moods and emotions. They are not
necessarily bad, but they need to be directed and properly motivated.
It’s a pity that many people are not aware of this
problem, so common as it is, and are therefore doing hardly anything
to solve it. That’s why, parents and teachers who are in the forefront
of the education of children should be made to be aware of this
problem and trained and equipped to solve it.
Dour faces have no place at home nor in school. Everyone
ought to be smiling and cheerful. If the art of smiling is learned in
these elementary places of formation, we can expect a society full of
smiling people.
Things would be really different. The world would assume a
brighter color. It would be more able to cope with its endless
challenges. Our humanity would be purified and enhanced, and better
poised to reach its ultimate goal of supernatural life with God and
everybody else.
different. In our dealings with others, either planned or unplanned, a
smile can make a lot of wonders. And in our difficult moments, a smile
may be all that is needed to lighten things and infuse hope and
optimism to the parties concerned.
I strongly suggest that we smile always and that our smile
be genuine that comes from the heart that in turn is immersed in God.
For sure, when smiling becomes a general norm, the world would be a
much better place to live in, even if problems, crises and suffering
may still continue to haunt us.
And that’s simply because a smile shows nothing other than
the goodness of the heart. It reflects an attitude of openness,
transparency, simplicity that are always a winner especially in an age
tested by all kinds of pressures. As such, a smile can always attract
everyone, irrespective of our different situations and conditions.
For one, a smile softens hearts that are burdened by some
problems. It has a way of brightening the environment. It can trigger
a chain reaction of goodness among people who often find themselves in
some slippery slope of anguish and tension all the way to sadness and
depression.
You smile at a person, or even at a stranger, and almost
invariably he or she would smile back. A smile facilitates friendship
and many other things like dialogue, empathy and compassion, easy
acceptance of an inconvenient truth, understanding people who are very
different from us. A smile is like “sugar that makes the medicine go
down.”
A smile speaks a different language that often transcends
the powers of words and logic. It possesses a certain magic that
defies explanation. It has a way of directly touching people’s heart
and soul with a warmth that can melt away walls and barriers among us.
With a smile, we can easily enter into the mind and heart
of others. Reading their thoughts and discerning their desires are
made easy. Adjusting to their ways, adapting to the how they are
become almost effortless.
And with a smile too, we can more quickly open our mind
and heart to the reality of things. The subjectivity of our
perceptions can coincide with the objectivity of things. With a smile,
suspending our preferences and biases to accommodate different
opinions and even beliefs, become less troublesome. More than that,
with a smile, we can easily adjust our words and behavior to the
persons and situations at hand.
And the good thing about all this is that we don’t have to
exert much effort to smile. It can readily be done. There may only be
some minor difficulty in this regard, as in having to overcome certain
physical or temperamental limitations that can work against smiling.
But these should not be a big problem.
What can constitute as a major challenge is to make our
smile genuine and sincere, one that comes from the heart that in turn
is immersed in love with God and with others. That’s when a smile can
have its fullest good effects.
And making that smile genuine, sincere and divinely
inspired can comprise our daily task of sanctification. We don’t have
to look for some extraordinary occasions of martyrdom to attain our
daily acts of heroic sanctity. We don’t have to think of many gimmicks
to be effective in our friendships and work of apostolate.
In this regard, we have to learn how to handle our moods
that we all have. Little by little and everyday, we should gain more
mastery and dominion over our moods and emotions. They are not
necessarily bad, but they need to be directed and properly motivated.
It’s a pity that many people are not aware of this
problem, so common as it is, and are therefore doing hardly anything
to solve it. That’s why, parents and teachers who are in the forefront
of the education of children should be made to be aware of this
problem and trained and equipped to solve it.
Dour faces have no place at home nor in school. Everyone
ought to be smiling and cheerful. If the art of smiling is learned in
these elementary places of formation, we can expect a society full of
smiling people.
Things would be really different. The world would assume a
brighter color. It would be more able to cope with its endless
challenges. Our humanity would be purified and enhanced, and better
poised to reach its ultimate goal of supernatural life with God and
everybody else.
No comments:
Post a Comment