If I had to name one thing that always lifts me up, it would be smiling.I smile easily when I am content or happy. But the real power of smiling reveals itself to me when I am stressed, tired, disappointed, upset, or affected by some other emotion that pollutes my healthy functioning. Smiling in those times never fails to works wonders, and instantly. If only I would remember more often to smile!
Just lifting the corners of my mouth triggers a transformation that melts away any heaviness. Energy starts twinkling in me, like having inner goosebumps. And everything that featured big in my consciousness just a moment ago seems to revert quickly to natural proportions.
No wonder that the practice of smiling has been important to Tao practitioners for millennia. In my training a few years ago, I learned how to turn my outer smile into an inner smile and direct its warm loving energy everywhere inside my body. It's easy, and I had no trouble accepting that cultivating an inner smile boosts my health from inside out.
And while Asia like any other place in the world has its share of stressed people, I have come to realize that the ready smiles of people all around me form a key part of my daily intake of vitamins. It is heart warming. And then to think that smiling is universally accessible, free of charge, completely natural, and never out of stock.
So, at the end of this busy, productive, and tiring day, I smile. Knowing that smiling overcomes everything, and brings me back to the present moment. Nothing else really matters right now. Just smile.
Photograph: Power of the inner smile, as taught by Mantak Chia.
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