Smile and you will feel better!
When I was young, I smiled most of every day. Nothing got me down. Even my mother, who was usually mean to me, could not get me down. My Grandma had taught me to keep smiling because smiling would make me feel better. So I always did my best to keep smiling.
Then I married my ex-husband. I smiled as long as I could. I smiled until he broke my chin and nose and gave me TMJ. Suddenly it hurt to smile, eat, or talk. The doctors, who thought I had fallen down the stairs again, did their best to enable my face and jaw to heal. But still my jaw did not heal correctly. And I suffered pain every day of my life as a result.
I continued eating as well as I could but smiling hurt me terribly. The longer I could not smile, I felt more and more depressed and anxious. And the more depressed and anxious I felt, the more my PTSD bothered me.
Then one day a wonderful surgeon named Dr. Brian Smith fixed my jaw and my TMJ. I began smiling again. I even wrote a poem and framed it and gave it to him to thank him for giving me back my smile.
Although my facial muscles are still unused to smiling and it takes effort to smile, smiling no longer causes me pain. And when I am down or having a bad day, I always try to smile to make myself feel better. And I do feel less depressed than I did before Dr. Brian Smith fixed my chin and TMJ.
I just found out that medical research has proven once again how wise Grandma was. Research shows that even smiling a fake smile can improve your mood and reduce stress. Smiling a “full smile” that involves facial muscles around the eyes produces a change in brain activity that corresponds with a happier mood.
So when you think you have nothing to be happy about, smile anyway! You will be glad you did! Parents, encourage your children to smile too!
When you read this, know that I am smiling and wishing you a happy day.
Let the encouraging words in these bobbiejrae posts help you
soar like an eagle above life’s storms.
You can survive the hard times in your life.
Do yourself some good right now!
What has the most power?
Feeling sad today?
