I C.A.N. Smile
I like to take things that exist and try to tweak them to myself. I absolutely love R.A.K’s (random acts of kindness) but I wanted to try to make my own twist on them. This is partially because I don’t want to take credit for someone else’s idea and I’m a dork and like to try to come up with things that make me smile. My original thought was P.O.S.E. (provide one smile epicly) because it reminded me of posing for a picture and what are you supposed to do for a picture but smile. It didn’t feel quite right so I kept trying to come up with something else trying to make it focus on smiling and positivity. I’m not sure it’s perfect but I came up with I C.A.N. Smile, or I can create a new smile. In a time where we are struggling to see kindness in the world around us it is important to try to find ways to see the good in ourselves and others. I really like the I C.A.N. Smile because I feel like it highlights the importance of doing good to help yourself and others. With the start of the holiday season it seems extra important to focus on the good in ourselves and in others. Holidays can be a hard time for a lot of people and this year that will probably be true more than normal.
Smiling is an easy and important way to improve your day and possibly life. The power of a smile is so important that some studies show that even faking a smile can help improve your body chemistry. Smiling has been shown to help relieve stress, lower your blood pressure and make you feel happier. Think about when you are having a bad day and a friend helps make you smile, a little of that stress leaves your body and you feel a bit better even if nothing really changed. It’s becoming more and more popular for people to invite emotional support animals to places of high stress, like natural disasters, finals week at school, retirement communities /assisted living facilities, and hospitals. Even at funerals, you will find people smiling and laughing in a very difficult moment. Smiling makes us feel better, about ourselves, our situation, and our world. Yes, these improvements can be short lived but the more we do to smile the more we will make our lives better. Smiling can also be contagious. Think about it, when you smile to someone on the street they will almost always return the smile, bringing a light to both your days.
There are several ways that we can make ourselves smile. We can see loved ones, we can snuggle with animals and children, we can watch something loving or funny, and we can do something kind or many other things. Today I want to focus on doing something kind for someone else. I feel that this is something that is extra special because it will improve our day and possibly the day of others. I have often mentally struggled with “doing good”. I remember, I once came out of a store and a gentleman asked me if I had any money I could spare. I asked him what he needed it for and he said he just wanted some coffee. I remember immediately going, oh sure I absolutely have a couple bucks for you to get a coffee and handed him $5 and went on my way. I cannot even begin to explain how the simple act made me so giddy and happy that I could help the man with his simple request. A couple of minutes later doubt started to creep in and I immediately felt worse than before. What if that man had scammed me and I had fallen for it without even hesitating? I told my mom about the encounter and how I had made myself regret my actions so quickly. She reminded me that even if the man had scammed me that would be a reflection of him, not me. I had been given an opportunity to help someone out and had the means to help and did without hesitating. Along that same line, I have fixated on the thought that if you do good because you want to feel good about yourself you are not really doing good. However, as I grow older I realize that that is a bunch of garbage. In the most basic of ways if doing good makes you feel better about yourself than you are already doing something good without taking into consideration how your actions have improved someone’s day. Doing good allows you to make a positive impact on many lives, your life and the lives of the recipients. This is part of the reason why I am so in love with R.A.K’s and love the possibility that I C.A.N. Smile can do so much good. Going back to the man who asked for a couple dollars to get coffee, even if he could afford coffee himself, I had the pleasure of buying him his coffee that day. I was able to give him and myself that gift. A common Random Act of Kindness is to pay for the coffee or meal of the person behind you in line. Arguably we know that the person in line can afford their coffee as they are in line to order it, however that doesn’t take away our gift to them and make them have a better day. We may never know the stories of the people we interact with in life and what our small gifts of kindness can mean to them. There is a story that floats around the internet from time to time, it could be an old wives tale or it could be someone’s real story, either way it always reminds me that no matter how small our actions are they have to potential to have a big impact. The story goes that there was a boy walking home from school on a Friday with all of his books and supplies. As he was walking he dropped some of his books. Another boy happened to be walking by and stopped to help pick up his books. As they we talking the second boy realized they lived close by each other and offered to help carry some of his books. On Monday he helped carry the books back to school and the boys became close friends. Many years later the first boy asked the second boy if he remembered how they met; the second boy did and asked him why he had been carrying all of his stuff. It turned out that the boy had intended to commit suicide that weekend but the kind act of helping pick up the dropped books and accompanying conversation convinced the boy to not take his life. We never know how our actions will affect the people around us. Isn’t it better to be kind?
I’m taking today to highlight doing good things anonymously or spontaneously.
Stay positive and share positivity. Much Love
Additional Resources:
https://www.henryford.com/blog/2017/10/health-benefits-smiling