This is such a touching encounter between a 10 year old gorilla and his human friend Damian Aspinall, who raised Kwibi the gorilla from an infant to 5 years old and then released him back into the wilds of Africa. The two have not seen each other in 5 years.
Watch carefully as Kwibi’s face turns into a smile as Damian sits down to connect with him for the first time. Precious.
Brianna Kahane is not only an 8 year old violin prodigy, she is a humanitarian.
“I want to bring music back to Haiti and have
Mr. Joseph’s school rebuilt because I think all people
in Haiti were smiling and need to smile now too.”
Inspired by Haitian music teacher Romel Joseph, who was buried for 18 hours under the ruble of his music school during the Haitian earthquake, she has raised millions of dollars to help him rebuild his school and his smile. Thank you Brianna!
“You can’t get to wonderful without passing through alright.”
~ Bill Withers, Singer/Songwriter
This video and book (see link below) on Wisdom by Andrew Zuckerman are not to be missed. What a stunningly beautiful and simple testimony to the power of experience and insight from some of our great elders including Judi Dench, Clint Eastwood, Desmond Tutu, Jane Goodall, and Robert Redford.
I noticed that there was a seriousness to this video and not a lot of smiles. However, this is one case where the messengers are accomplished and respected celebrities and the messages are so valuable and full of good intention that my heart and spirit are smiling and grateful. Take a look and let me know what you think.
“Use your talents to make someone smile.
That’s what they are there for.”
~ Tara Stiles~
If you haven’t ever done yoga, Tara Stiles is a wonderful person from whom to begin learning about it. If you have done yoga, and don’t know her, check out her blog. Either way, she’ll make you smile while you’re on your way to a healthier body and life.
On one of her recent blog posts on Huffington Post, I found this quote about being yourself that is a great reminder of the value of doing what it takes to keep a smile on your face. It’s not always easy, but it is always worth it.
People we collectively admire, whether they are saints, teachers, leaders, actors, famous or not, all have one big thing in common. They all have followed their own path, walked in their own shoes, and tuned out the noise and distractions of anything that pulled them in any direction other than their own. We all can do this. It’s not easy but it is possible. There is not a single person on this planet that is exactly the same (until this whole clone thing gets kicked off). We each have something special to contribute to this world. It takes desire, strength, courage and a lot of tough choices to stay on your path, but you are worth it. We all are worth it. When you walk into a room and you are completely, totally you, that is worlds more powerful than a version of you that you have altered to try to be like someone or something else. >>
One of the ways to follow your own path and be completely totally you is to follow your smile. It will always lead you to someplace wonderful.
And please let me know where it leads you. Your smile makes me and the rest of the world smile too.
Teacher Danyl Johnson’s passion for music and teaching made it to X Factor! And what a gift that is for all of us. Watching him reach into people’s hearts singing “With A Little Help From My Friends,” had me out of my chair at home smiling and cheering along with the live audience.
Thank you to all the teachers around the world who make learning a joy and school a happy, healthy, safe place to be.
Michael Jackson burst into my life when I was a junior in high school and I first heard him sing, “I Want You Back” on the radio.
I remember driving around that summer with friends in my mom’s burgundy ‘68 mustang convertible with the white top down, going to Kopp’s Drive-In in Milwaukee and blasting the radio volume, singing along with this 10 year old boy whose voice secretly captivated even the most jaded and prejudiced of our still unofficially segregated city.
My friend Kathy, now a brilliant attorney representing Native Americans, danced and sang with abandon to his music and entertained us all at 16 years old, leading to smiles that erupted into peals of laughter and a group sing-a-long. In a recent phone call remembering that special time, she said to me, “I think his music opened doors for all of us to really appreciate African-American music and other cultures in a way we couldn’t have otherwise.”
Fast forward 40 years, in San Diego, just 90 miles away from Neverland and Staples Center where the Memorial was going on today, I watched on CNN as Michael Jackson was being remembered by his close friend Brook Shields. I was surprised to learn that even with all the masterpiece songs he wrote and performed, his favorite song was also one of my favorites: “Smile.”
While writing this post I was also surprised to discover during a google search for the “Smile” lyrics that they were written by John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons in 1954 for Nat King Cole and to the melody written by Charlie Chaplin in 1936 to accompany his last silent film “Modern Times.” Perhaps a trite detail unless you consider a deeper meaning: a genuine smile transcends all human barriers including race, culture, language, age, gender, personality, and often, even attitude.
Some with “atittude” say that “Smile though your heart is aching” is being inauthentic. Sometimes, depending on the circumstances. No question, there are times when it feels like it’s impossible to smile, and given Michael Jackson’s life and death, he had many of those times, like we all do if we’re honest with each other. And yet, he kept trying to smile and share his creative genius in whatever way he could.
My own experience and new scientific research is showing that consciously choosing to smile makes you feel better and relieves pain and sadness in the moment. And yes, the song’s lyrics do say, “Hide every trace of sadness…what’s the use of crying,” which is a great drive-time platitude, but as in the case of Michael Jackson and anyone else with significant pain of any type, smiling as your primary strategy to hide sadness instead of addressing the pain head-on with professional help doesn’t eliminate personal challenges and weaknesses, and often makes things worse.
But smiling is an empowering short-term coping strategy, especially combined with singing and dancing and connecting with people you love. Your smile has the power to lift you or someone you love out of a funk. Your smile is the inspiration to get everyone focused on what’s right with our world so we have the strength to heal what’s wrong in our world. Here’s the catch though, we have to take a stand to help each other choose to smile and sing and dance AND lovingly witness each other’s pain when we most want to ignore it - again and again and again - to keep the energy moving in a healthy direction.
It’s easy enough to focus on our own shortcomings, even more so others, especially when they’re alive, and so much easier to focus on their gifts and strengths after they’ve died. I don’t pretend to understand Michael Jackson’s lifestyle choices, so I choose to focus on his gifts and learn from his shadow behavior, believing that ultimately this choice is what transforms human frailities into divine legacies.
My prayer and vision for our world is that the legacy of Michael Jackson will guide us as a global community to choose to carry on the absolutely life-saving power of holding each other in our strengths, celebrating each other’s gifts, and bringing light to our shadows while we’re alive so that the only choice each one of us can heartfully and logically make when we struggle is to heal the shadow, seek the light in our smile and keep choosing to fully and creatively live the life we’ve been gifted.
SMILE
Smile though your heart is aching;
Smile even though it’s breaking.
When there are clouds in the sky, you’ll get by.
If you smile through your fear and sorrow,
Smile and maybe tomorrow,
You’ll see the sun come shining through for you.
Light up your face with gladness,
Hide every trace of sadness.
Although a tear may be ever so near,
That’s the time you must keep on trying,
Smile, what’s the use of crying?
You’ll find that life is still worthwhile,
If you just smile.
That’s the time you must keep on trying,
Smile, what’s the use of crying?
You’ll find that life is still worthwhile
If you just smile.
We mourn the loss of Michael Jackson and may not be able to bring him back, but we can thank him by choosing to pay forward the legacy of his creative spirit and loving heart. Watch him singing, “Smile,” on this touching video tribute.
If you’re unable to view the video, here is the YouTube link: http://bit.ly/v6Xom
The Ninety-Second Smile Challenge: What a great way to help another person, particularly a child, understand that they have the power to change their mood and that their energy is contagious. From a blog entry by Billy Obenauer
 “Okay,” I said. “Here’s the challenge. I’m going to set my watch for a minute and a half,” I told him, “and I want you to force yourself to smile for the entire time. At the end of ninety seconds, you can do whatever you want, but I promise that you’ll be in a good mood. Do you want to give it a try?” Read more
Since creating the 21-Day Smile Diet several years ago, I’ve recommended that people wake up every morning and practice the 16-Second Smile. But this is first time that I’ve heard someone suggest a 90-second smile. No question that the longer you hold a smile, the more your physiology changes for the better. But most people will not allow themselves that opportunity unless they’re asked to do it. And even then, there is often resistance.
Over 20 years ago I was in a seminar with a speaker who had us partner up and stare at each other for 90 seconds and not say a word or make any noise. I laughed and thought, “What’s the big deal?” OMG! Try it sometime! Especially with someone you don’t know well or have never met before. One of the most embarrassingly uncomfortable 90 seconds I can remember on record. And the interesting thing is that the person I was partnered with became a friend and we are still in touch although we have always lived more than 2500 miles apart. We both attribute the reason to that 90 seconds in time when we peered into the windows of each other’s soul’s. I wonder now, how that 90 seconds might have been easier and more enjoyable if the instructor had said, “Smile at each other for 90 seconds.”
Hmmm…also makes me wonder how our day might turn out if we started our morning dressing ritual with a 90-second smile in the mirror and the words “Thank You.”
This is such a fun song by Dan Zanes guaranteed to make you smile. Take a 2 minute break, turn up your speakers and keep smiling while you’re listening. When you consciously smile while you’re listening to and watching something you enjoy, you crank up your internal endorphin machine that helps relieve more stress from your body and increases your happiness level.
SMILE (lyrics) by Dan Zanes
every time I think of you,
smile for a while
that’s the one thing you always do
smile smile smile
acting out stories and hugging your friends
smile for a while
i know what i’ll do when i see you again
i’m gonna smile smile smile
chorus:
like ripples in a pond
or runners who pass the baton
good feelings will go on for mile after mile
and your big heart circles the world
every time that you smile
doing those voices and telling your jokes
smile for a while
your crazy hairdos and your thrift shop coats
smile smile smile
every time you break into a broadway song
smile for a while
the whole world starts singing along
smile smile smile
well you know i love you and i’m glad you’re my friend
smile for a while
you know what i’ll do when i see you again
smile smile smile
“Sometimes your joy is
the source of your smile,
And sometimes your smile
can be the source of your joy.”
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
One of the reasons I’m so enthusiastic about the 16 Second Smile is because it turns you into a JOY MACHINE. You will literally FEEL MORE JOY when you smile more often and for longer periods of time.
Have you ever noticed that most people smile for only a 1-3 seconds?
By smiling a big enough smile to create eye crinkles and holding it for at least 16 seconds, you release endorphins into your body. Take a look at the photo below and notice the lines around this man’s eyes. Eye Crinkles. That’s how you can tell if you’re getting the physical benefits of a smile.
And doesn’t he LOOK HAPPY? It feels good just looking at the smile in his eye. That good feeling is the release of endorphins (pleasure chemicals in your endocrine system) into your body. Instantaneously! Isn’t that awesome!?
If you continue to allow yourself to keep smiling and really feel the good feelings, your mind starts to think thoughts that match your good feelings, which can lead to ideas and actions that create a burst of joy. And then more joy. And more joy.
Simply by choosing to smile for 16 seconds, you create a positive cycle of joyful energy. And even better news is that the more you do it, you create a brain pattern that memorizes the experience, which makes it easier to access when you need it.
How’s that for beating depression, anger, frustration, resistance, disappointment, rejection, and every other negative emotion that visits on occasion? You can control how you feel and a 16-Second Smile can help you do that!
Give the 16-Second Smile a try right now and see what I mean.
His 7 points are great, AND by adding a 16-SECOND SMILE to every action he suggests, you will increase the level of endorphins in your body and send a stronger “feel good” message from your brain to your body that will help you feel even better.
Here are his 7 tips:
1. Laugh more. [MM Note: Did you ever realize that laughter begins with a SMILE and is the most intense SMILE you can create?]
2. Consider using the amino acid and nonprescription SAM-e to boost your mood. [MM Note: Be sure to read the fine print. SAM-e can’t be taken if you’re already on anti-depressants.]
3. Go to a hands-on healer. [MM note: And SMILE while you’re being worked on.]
4. Do lunges and squats to activate your natural youth hormones. [MM Note: This is new information to me; all I know is that squats and lunges are two exercises I don’t like to do but know they strengthen my legs and core. These definitely require SMILING to help make them easier.]
5. Breathe more deeply and more often. [MM Note: Here’s where a 16-second SMILE really pays off. You live longer and with more joy when you SMILE while breathing.]
6. Smell the joy. Aromatherapy can lift depression. [MM Note: And do a 16-second SMILE while you’re smelling to increase the positive experience.]
7. Keep fresh blooming flowers around you. [MM Note: And whenever you look at the blooms, SMILE a 16-second SMILE to deepen the pleasure.
Great ideas. Thanks Dr. Mao! Check out Dr. Mao’s book Secrets of Longevity and SMILE while you’re reading it.
If you haven’t ever done yoga, Tara Stiles is a wonderful person from whom to begin learning about it. If you have done yoga, and don’t know her, check out 
The Ninety-Second Smile Challenge: What a great way to help another person, particularly a child, understand that they have the power to change their mood and that their energy is contagious. From a blog entry by 
