Well, duh.

Science Catches Up

Recent scientific research has just concluded that a person feels better, emotionally and physically, when smiling, a fact assumed by most, based solely on personal experience, and, yet worthy of scientific verification.  Furthermore, the study found that this magically uplifting benefit,  i.e. feeling better, was experienced by subjects even if the smile was forced, a relatively new idea for many, at present, and a more significant finding than the first.

Which brings me back to “Well, duh.”  The knowledge that one feels better when smiling, even if the smile is artificial, has been around for millennia and can be found in many different cultures and religions (I am certain that if I had bothered to research these assertions at all, I would have been proven correct; it would have been a waste of time, so I omitted the effort altogether).  I do know, based on the the Spiritual fellowships in which I have been involved, that techniques are designed and utilized for the sole purpose of producing a smile.  I, myself, some forty years ago wrote a children’s poem to spread the word:
“Our Smiles
A smile is something fun to wear,
it does so many things,
We should always put it on our face,
like we put our fingers in our rings.

When we go out a smile should be
a part of our apparel,
Just like our shoes & just like our socks
& the part right in my hair-el.

Here are some things that smiles can do
for you and those around you,
A smile can do so MANY things,
It surely will astound you.

1. A friend may come to you one day
downhearted with a loss,
But he will fly off happily,
Upon your smile, of course.

2. You know that old man
who lives down the street,
The one with the face like a prune?
Well, you just give him your finest smile,
and he’ll light up like the moon?

3. When you’re sad & feeling bad
& YOU’VE forgotten how to smile,
Raise the corners o’your mouth an inch,
& your spirit’ll raise a mile!”
(“Lessens” by Michael Oster, unpublished, 1976)

 

I can now rest easy knowing that science has finally come around to my way of thinking.