Start Smiling!

By Amy

            Joseph Addison once said, “What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity.” Isn’t that true? Without joy or smiles or anything happy in the world wouldn’t all of us become sad, dull, and boring people? Smiles bring joy and excitement in our lives; without them there would be no point to life. Smiles can improve your health; change your appearance, and spread happiness in our world. Because of these three reasons, I believe that we should start smiling!

Mother Teresa believed “peace begins with a smile.” A genuine smile puts us at ease while a frown does the exact opposite. Try smiling right now. Relax your face and put on your best “Mona Lisa” smile and take in a few long calming breaths. Now, frown. Feel the difference? Considering it takes 26 muscles to smile but 62 muscles to frown, why strain yourself with a scowl? French physiologist, Dr Israel Waynbaum has proven that smiling can lower stress, produce hormones that stabilize blood pressure, relax muscles, reduce pain, accelerate healing, and most importantly, improve your mood!

But what if we don’t feel like smiling right now? Can you fake a smile and still get the same effects? The answer is yes. According to a research study in University of Würzburg, even though a true smile has deeper results, a surface smile can trick the brain into releasing happy hormones. So if you’re just having a bad day and everything seems to be going wrong try to fake a smile and you will feel a lot better!

Another reason to smile more is, smiling changes your appearance. We are typically drawn to people who are smiling. We all want to be friends with a nice, sunny person rather than a person who scowls all of the time. Frowns, scowls, and grimaces tell people “I think I’ll stay away from her” while a pleasant smile says, “She’s nice.” Also, smiling makes you look more successful. Smiling people look confident and prepared, and their smile tells other people that they are comfortable with what they are doing. For instance, a boss is more likely to hire the smiling applicant rather than the one who looks uncomfortable and uneasy with what she is doing.

One more reason you should smile more is because it is contagious. If you give a smile to someone the other person can’t help but smile back at you. And because of your smile that person will most likely smile at someone else in the room. You can change the whole mood of the room just by smiling. A smiling person spreads happiness with them. Smile lots and the people around you wills start to smile too! In a customer service seminar, all the students were taught how to pick up a phone. When the phone rang, before they picked it up they were told to take a calming breath and smile to themselves. The person calling would receive the peaceful energy by answering the call. So, just by a phone call, a smile and calming energy is passed. So, the quote “Smile and the world smiles with you” really is true!

Smiling has so many benefits. Remember, smiling improves your health, changes your appearance, and spreads happiness in our world. You’ll find that the more smiles you give, the more you will receive in return. So smile on your bus, at your workplace, at school, or anywhere you go. Once you become accustomed to doing so, you’ll see and feel the difference you are making. Start smiling! J

THE POWER OF SPEECH

 NCCAE New Class Offering for 2009 Spring Semester

Speech is power; speech is to persuade, to convert, to compel. The speech is the mirror of the soul. When a man speaks, so is he. The Chinese traditional virtue is that keep low profile and don’t speak it out, as long as you do it, people will find it and reward what you did. That is the old timer. The time is changing especially in this land of opportunity, I bet you know it. Probably it may be too late to know it for you, but it may not be too late for your children.

The Truth About Books

 Diana Lu, Champion of NCCAE Public Speech Competition

    I have a question for all of you. Do you know what a book truly is? Sure, you might all be thinking that it’s just a lump of papers bound together, filled with words to form stories. But no. That’s not all of it.
    A book is a portal to a different world. No, seriously. Do you think our world has a part of it where dragons run free and magic is common? Or, does it contain all the underwater adventures that Captain Nemo and his crew experienced?  You may have heard that a book is a door, but that’s not true. A door only takes you to what’s on the other side of it, and what’s on the other side of the book is only the back of the cover. No, I prefer to use the word PORTAL. A portal can take you ANYWHERE!! From outer space, to the other side of the world! Think about it. Doesn’t that sound VERY similar to a book? Another thing a book can do is split you in half, (don’t worry, not literally) take one half and stuff it in the book, while leaving the other half on earth. This would explain why you always seem to be sucked into a good book. So, I have just explained to you why I think a book is a portal, and what other things it can do. So please, next time you hear someone say a book is a door, do kindly correct them. It would mean a lot to me.

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• <Science Olympiad for High School Students> August 20, 2008 -- Mr. Jimmy Li.
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