A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. Proverbs 17:22

Often what is going on inside of us is reflected on our faces specifically in our eyes, our brows and on our lips.

Solomon writes that a joyful heart is a good thing, but what if you don’t have one at the moment? Have you ever heard the line, “fake it until you make it?” Well, let me share with you one man’s journey of faking it until he made it (happen.)

The Power of a Smile (From KQED.org website)

Les Bloch isn’t a smiley face kind of guy. So he decided to give it a try. My, how things changed.

By Les Bloch

Look in the mirror. I mean right now. Are you smiling? I didn’t think so.

I have the same problem and I’ve been working on it. Ever since I was a kid watching Sesame Street, I knew I was supposed to smile. But smiling, if not practiced daily, can seem like kind of a chore.

I recently started thinking about smiles when I joined a Zydeco band. The band I was in had broken up, and I wanted to keep playing, keep my chops up. Zydeco is a unique musical experience for a drummer. Most of the songs are two steps, shuffles, straight beats and a few waltzes thrown in. The endings are cued with a lick from the accordion player. So I was practicing these songs on my practice set and caught sight of myself in the mirror. I noticed that when I play drums, my face looks more like I’m passing a kidney stone than having a good time. And this is Good Time music. So I had to start practicing my smile too.

Just getting the old face muscles to form a smile took some effort. I noticed it made me look younger, and at the gig, people would smile back when they saw me smiling.  I started smiling in the grocery store, when I was at the bank, when I greeted customers in my day job. Then I started trading smiles with strangers on the street. I thought maybe they’d think I was crazy but I was just working some muscles in my face and people started reacting in a positive way. Friends asked me if I’d won the lottery. I started feeling better about my job and my life.

My wife started looking at me suspiciously.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

My fake smile was turning into a real one. Bert and Ernie were right. I keep practicing my smile, mostly in the car now. I try to smile for a full minute or maybe through a song on the radio.

I just had my first grandchild and now all I have to do is think of her. I want her to see my face smiling back at hers. I want her to heed Bert and Ernie’s advice. I want her to see a genuine smile, one that comes from inside of me and radiates out like a Zydeco two-step on a Saturday night.

With a Perspective, I’m Les Bloch.

Les Bloch is a writer and construction project manager.

This clearly does not address the devastating effects of depression and the neurochemical issues related to depression. However, I do believe that some people could stand to smile a little more. Your “crushed spirit” might need a little “good medicine.”

Smile. . . what have you got to lose?

God bless,

Pr. Ben