Back in the late nineteen nineties qigong master Chunyi Lin, founder of Spring Forest Qigong, coined the acronym S-M-I-L E. It stands for Start My Internal Love Engine. Thich Nhat Hanh states that a smile is nourishing, and so is laughter. He goes on to say:” Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes, your smile can be the source of your joy.”
We all have days when the last thing we want to do upon awakening is smile, the proverbial getting out of bed on the wrong side. According to the above-mentioned Masters we do not have to stay grouchy. So why not play with it?. Look into a mirror and give yourself a heartfelt smile. You might be moved to tears. Or, make a face at yourself, the way you did just for fun when you were a child. This is for you. Nobody is watching, except maybe your inner critic, which is but a thought passing through. Become creative, don’t be shy. You may find yourself laughing until you cry, perhaps feel an inner shift into more lightness. Enjoy. Remind yourself again and again to do the
S-M-I-L-E. In the beginning it may feel like you are faking it. Keep at it and soon you will be ready to take your loving smile into the market place.
There are many ways to experience how a smile changes the atmosphere around you. Observe the response a heartfelt smile sparks in another, when you walk past a stranger. Especially children, out walking with their parents, will beam back at you. At cross walks, even though it is your turn to go, wave a smiling “thanks for stopping” at the driver anyway. More often than not you will receive a friendly acknowledgement. The opportunities are endless. Soon you will notice that when your Internal Love Engine is on, folks are sensing it and greet you before you do and everybody gets nourished. It has been reported, that people who were on their way to commit suicide decided to live another day and then another, and another, and lived to tell the tale; survived, because someone graced them with a smile at the right time at the right place.
May we always remember the power of a smile for the precious gift that it is.