A Simple Smile




	I went in to take a shower the other evening after a long and busy day. I glanced at myself in the mirror before getting in the shower and noticed a long, frowning face staring back at me. The furrowed brow and down turned lips made it seem older than my thirty seven years on this Earth would suggest. I felt even more tired looking at myself like that, so I decided to try a little experiment: I smiled.
	The effect was amazing. Almost instantly a bunch of wrinkles appeared around my eyes and in my cheeks, but instead of making me look older they made me look young, happy, alive, and energetic. The furrowed brow above my eyes disappeared and my eyes sparkled with a new light. I felt vital, joyous, and full of love and oneness with God once again. I was no longer tired and I even sang in the shower, and it was all due to a simple smile.

	The great psychologist William James wrote that we do not smile because we are happy, but rather we are happy because we smile. This is so true. God loves us so much and wants us to be happy, full of love, and joyous in our lives. However, God will not force us to do what we do not want to do. If we want to be happy we have to smile and choose happiness everyday. If we want to be full of love we have to invite God's love into our hearts and souls and then share it with others. If we want to be joyous in our lives then we have to find the joy within ourselves and then give it to the world.
	Take responsibility for your life then. Choose your happiness, share your love, and give your joy to others today. Know that joy begets more joy, love begets more love, and smiles beget more smiles. We are all journeying down the same road in this life, so why don't we make the trip with a loving heart, a joyous soul, and a smiling face.
	Joseph J. Mazzella