World Smile Day is an annual celebration observed on the first Friday of October. In 2024, it will take place on October 4, a day dedicated to "Do an act of kindness. Help one person smile"! A smile often expresses a feeling, serves as encouragement to someone, or acts as a greeting.
History Behind The Day:
Harvey Ball, a business illustrator from Worcester, Massachusetts, is credited with introducing the world to the iconic smiley face symbol in 1963. However, he felt that the symbol had lost its original meaning due to its widespread commercial use and aimed to dedicate a day to authentic smiles and acts of compassion.
The inaugural World Smile Day took place in 1999, and it has grown into a yearly event. The Harvey Ball World Smile Foundation persists in advocating for the importance of sharing smiles and kindness across the globe. Since then, World Smile Day has inspired worldwide smiles and kindness, with the Harvey Ball World Smile Foundation, created in 2001, keeping it alive.
World Smile Day Theme 2024: "Do an act of kindness. Help one person smile"!
The theme for the day is “Do an act of kindness. Help one person smile.” The goal is to spread some happiness around by getting people to do kind things for others without expecting anything in return. If everyone does just one small thing to make someone else smile, the world would be a much nicer and happier place.
“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” —Thich Nhat Hanh
Power Of Smile:
Smiling boosts happy hormones and lowers stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, and it also lowers blood pressure. This is because smiling often happens when you're happy, and it makes your brain release more endorphins, which help with pain and stress relief.
- Smiling Helps You Live Longer.
- Smiling Relieves Stress.
- Smiling Elevates Mood.
- Smiling Is Contagious.
- Smiling can have different effects on how you’re perceived.
- Smiling Boosts the Immune System.
- Smiling May Lower Blood Pressure.
- Smiling triggers the release of natural painkillers and serotonin, which helps reduce pain.
- Smiling Makes You Attractive.
- Smiling Helps You Stay Positive.
How Smiling Affects your Mind & Body:
Experts and spiritual guides both believe that just smiling can change you and the world around you. Smiling triggers the release of feel-good chemicals in the brain and body, including dopamine, endorphins, and serotonin. These chemicals not only make us feel happier but also have beneficial effects like reducing stress, lowering heart rate and blood pressure, acting as natural painkillers, and improving mood by increasing serotonin levels.
This means you don't need to take medications with potentially harmful side effects; simply smiling can have these positive effects without any prescription. A study found that looking at a smiling face makes your brain's reward center light up, showing that smiling faces can make you feel rewarded.
Smiles come in 19 different types but only six are for happiness:
Smiles come in 19 different types, categorised by researchers into two main groups "polite" or "social" smiles, and those that genuinely express happiness. These include the "embarrassed" smile, the "genuine" smile, and the "loving" smile.
Here are some Ways to smile more:
- Focus on the good in situations and your life
- Do things that make you happy
- Spend time with nature
- Have a gratitude moment & Smile.
