When you think about it…we’re all SOOOOO SERIOUS these days.

Nobody is walking around with a smile these days. Why? Is it because despite all this technology to help us, entertain us, make life easier, we are losing touch with being simply happy? Is it because things are pretty damn serious these days?

Talk to anyone who’s gone through a health-scare…or just got a job after months of  being unemployed. Or just welcomed a Grandchild into the world. They are often the only ones left walking around smiling.

My theory is that we are in a state these days where we suffer from the anxiety of daily life, while at the same time wanting and needing to appear “totally together”…we’ve fooled ourselves into believing if we’re not living as large as the Kardashians, we must be failures. That combination takes so much concentration, we feel if we walked around with a smile, we’d look insane. When you are thinking serious thoughts, a smile is very unnatural.

But think about what you FEEL when you see someone else walking down the street with a big ‘ol smile…

A smiling person looks not only happy, but confident, peaceful, and more attractive. Most of the time, it makes us smile in return…with little or no effort.

I remember years ago they used to say smiling takes less muscle effort than and other facial expression. Why does it now seem like it takes a LOT of effort? Why are we so intense now that if you were to walk around smiling, someone’s bound to ask “Why are you smiling?”

I’m gonna try using the “smile-tear-off-sign” at the top of this page. I’ll let you know after a week if there are any little tabs left on the page.

-Jim