{"id":138,"date":"2014-11-07T06:50:28","date_gmt":"2014-11-07T11:50:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/?p=138"},"modified":"2014-11-07T16:32:18","modified_gmt":"2014-11-07T21:32:18","slug":"week-8-are-you-a-smiling-guy-or-gal-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/?p=138","title":{"rendered":"Week #8 – Are you a “Smiling Guy” (or Gal)?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Smiling<\/a>

A Smiling Guy (Photo credit: Grace Church)<\/p><\/div>\n

Week #8 – Are you a “Smiling Guy” (or Gal)?<\/p>\n

Look in the mirror. \u00a0Is that the face you want us to remember you by?<\/p>\n

In a note to my parents, one of Rob’s high school teachers remembered Rob as a “smiling guy with a friendly hello.” \u00a0The note went on to comment that this is a characteristic shared by our entire family. \u00a0That might be true…just this week a friend from town complimented me on my ability to smile regardless of the weather or circumstances. \u00a0But while I certainly can’t speculate about what went on behind Rob’s smile…I have a confession to make: I’m not always smiling on the inside!<\/p>\n

Smiling is a habit…nearly a reflex. \u00a0It’s something you practice before it becomes automatic, kind of like a\u00a0killer karate move. \u00a0You don’t wait to learn those moves in a crucial situation…you practice them over and over again beforehand. \u00a0And the more I thought about it…the more I realized that smiling is complicated business: If we smile regardless of the circumstances, then we’re not being true to our grumpiest selves. \u00a0But if we are true to our grumpiest selves, then we’re sure never to smile! \u00a0So which comes first…the smile, or the happiness?<\/p>\n

I took a long walk on the beach to clear my head and wondered out loud, “Rob…what is it that you want me to know about smiling?”<\/p>\n

A scene from the movie Chaplin immediately came to mind. \u00a0Charlie’s just been given heartbreaking news about a long lost love. \u00a0He buckles under the sadness. \u00a0Meanwhile, his fans eagerly wait to greet him. \u00a0Seeing the crowd and Charlie’s state, his friend asks him, “What are we gonna do, Charlie?” \u00a0Chaplin pulls himself together and bravely responds: “Smile.” \u00a0With that, they head out into a sea of admirers. \u00a0Charlie’s fans expect him to make them smile…and that, in return, is what makes Charlie smile.<\/p>\n

Your assignment for this weekend: tackle a problem with a smile! \u00a0You can start small by practicing on a the few little snags that come your way…or you can go big and tackle that one critical moment when you are about to blow your top and lose your cool! \u00a0You may have little eyes watching your every move…or loved ones depending on you to set the tone in a crucial situation. \u00a0What is your response to pressure telling them? \u00a0What are you telling yourself? \u00a0Take a deep breath…and SMILE!<\/p>\n

Make smiling a choice whether you are happy or not \u00a0— and you may just find that whether you are happy or not, you are smiling anyway! \u00a0\ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

Spread Happyness —\u00a0SMILE this weekend! \u00a0And share your experience in the comments!<\/p>\n

11\/7\/14 by Grace Church
\n<\/em>\u00a9 Grace Church<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Week #8 – Are you a “Smiling Guy” (or Gal)? Look in the mirror. \u00a0Is that the face you want us to remember you by? In a note to my parents, one of Rob’s high school teachers remembered Rob as a “smiling guy with a friendly hello.” \u00a0The note went on to comment that this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=138"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":146,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138\/revisions\/146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}