Why Smile Therapy? The Story Behind It

The classical example of the glass half empty and glass half full is splitting people in two categories; optimists and pessimists.

If you look in the eyes of an optimistic person, you will instantly feel a sensation of happiness embracing your being. More than that, you will smile. Smiling, you feel full of life and joy. You feel so much better when a smile lands on your face.

Contrary, when you look in the eyes of a pessimistic person, you feel sadness, a lack of energy and a huge confusion. You probably start to wonder… what the meaning of your life is. Somehow, you haven’t got a clue.

However… listen… I have another theory… I believe that there exists another category of persons… a third one… formed by those who do not look into the eye of the optimist or the pessimist to be influenced by them. These people look directly at the glass and say to themselves, “Look… here we have a glass completely full; half with water, half with air. What a beautiful, abundant life we have!”

Yes, life is beautiful, abundant, amazing and deep. The only thing that separates us in several categories is the perception that we have about what is around us.

There are moments in life when we feel ourselves overwhelmed by the heaviness we think we have on our shoulders. Nevertheless, is it really so? Is the heaviness indeed there or somehow, we only perceive it like this?

No matter how we perceive it at a specific moment in time, we should never forget that a healthy state and a joyful mood are very important to have a beautiful day!

But… what if we would combine the two necessary elements? What if, for the purpose of maintaining good health, we use a smile and laugh?

No matter what there is inside the glass we’re looking at… let’s see it completely filled with amazing things. Let us mix the water and air inside it, with some humor also.

The humor is an element that gives us protection, treatment, relaxation and tension elimination. When we laugh, our body secretes a hormone that stimulates the activity of the heart.

Both medics and psychologists conclude that laughing offers us several benefits. Specialists say that it’s very difficult for a cheerful person to become ill, comparing with an anxious person.

Whether you are a pessimist or an optimist, you should laugh more often, anytime, anywhere. Do not forget that a good laugh will make your heart beat in a more healthy way, your digestion will improve, stress will highly be reduced, the immune system will be activated and even your appetite for life will increase.

Henri Rubenstein, a French neurologist, explained that one minute spent laughing, confers our bodies around 45 minutes of therapeutic relaxation. “The laugh has an even more powerful effect than physical exercise because its results are prolonged even when the activity stops” explained the neurologist. For the cardio-vascular system, 20 seconds of a good laugh equates to three minutes of speed walking.

Nowadays, smile therapy has already been studied and is being used in several cases of illness. This therapy appeared in 1964, when Norman Cousins was given a few months to live. He suffered from a severe Ankylosing Spondylitis. His doctor and friend told him that he had 1 in 500 chance of survival.

Cousins was a journalist so he was very good in researching things out. He started his research and trying to find a solution. His research showed that he only needed vitamin C. Concluding that the drugs he received in the hospital were not good for his health; he fired his doctor and left the hospital. He found another doctor who agreed to administer vitamin C injections to him.

In order not to be bored, he watched movies all day, especially comedies. He noticed that about 30 minutes of laughing provided about two hours of pain relief. Therefore, he continued with this “treatment” for several months and the results were amazing.

The medical world was shocked… the incurable illness disappeared completely. Of course no one wanted to accept that this was the best treatment for Cousin’s incurable illness. Some said it was a coincidence, some didn’t accept that he was cured. If his healing procedure was real or not… who can ever prove it? Norman Cousins who was given only a few months to live by the medical world back in 1964, finally died on November 30th, 1990. Can we somehow prove that laughter added so many years to his life? We can’t… but we know only one thing.

He wrote his memories regarding his illness and recovery in his book “Anatomy of an Illness: As Perceived by the Patient“

Norman Cousins, who had an incurable illness, succeeded to laugh in the face of Death. And for sure he saw lots and lots of great comedies. And yes… he had lots of pain… stomach pains caused by such a deep, healthy laugh. Do you remember this kind of pain? When was the last time you laughed until your belly hurt?

There doesn’t seem to be a standard method for smile therapy. Photos with cute animals, a good joke, an easy comedy, a funny song, a talk with a friend – all these easily help us.

Be my friend, please! Let us talk, smile and laugh together!

Let us start with a joke… or, if you want, we can dig deeper together inside this therapeutic field.

Do you want to share your perfect smile with me? I promise… I won’t bite… at least, never on the first date. 🙂