How A Simple Smile Can Become A Powerful Tool For Kindness
Jul 05, 2020
One of the absolute easiest, yet most wonderful, things you can do to show kindness to others is to give them a smile. As long as it’s genuine, a grin can provide a number of positive results. You can truly make a difference in someone’s day or change the course of events for the better. Read on to learn just how a simple smile can become a powerful tool for kindness.
Improves Mood
If you see someone looking stressed or sad, flash them a smile. This one small gesture conveys quite a lot. It shows that someone cares and is interested - even a stranger. You never know what someone else is going through. This may be just what they needed to get through their day. In addition, it activates the portion of the recipient’s brain that processes sensory rewards, providing them with a sense of contentment.
It’s Contagious
Smiling really is contagious. An unconscious automatic response in the brain is responsible for this phenomenon. When you smile at someone, they can’t help but smile back. That smile can then cause positive feelings to flow within the person. The act of smiling itself also stimulates a neurochemical response that causes people to feel happy. It’s true. When a person smiles, neurotransmitters that make people feel good are released. These include serotonin, dopamine, and endorphins.
Strengthens Relationships
These brain activities generated by smiling work together between participants in a way that strengthens attachment. These actions combine to create a symbiotic effect, meaning one that works together or is interdependent. The actions rely on each other. Both you and the recipient benefit from the process of smiling, the release of feel-good neurochemicals, the activation of the brain’s reward center, and the resulting feelings of warmth and contentment. All of this leads to strengthened bonds between people, even for a brief moment between strangers.
Reinforces Positivity
When you smile at someone, you’re letting them know you have good intent. You send positivity in their direction. As noted above, this can lead them to smile. When they do, they benefit in multiple ways, as we’ve already discovered. What you may not realize about smiling, though, is how it can keep that positive mood going. Even after you’ve walked away from the recipient, they may maintain their smile and all the good feelings that come along with it.
See? Smiling really does make a difference. It seems like such a small thing, but it matters. Go out there and share the smiles. You’ll see how good it makes you feel, too.
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