They say that it takes far more muscles to frown than it does to smile. Research puts just how many muscles it takes all over the place, but try it for yourself and see just how many muscles you feel when you do either.

Every morning I meditate outside by my pool for 20 minutes. I started with ten and thought that was a lot, but when I bumped it up to 20 that now seems to go by way too fast. This past week I completed a course on happiness. You train your mind to experience periods of joy and contentment, so that when things are not going so well you can center yourself to that moment during the day. On one day of the exercise I wasn’t feeling particularly like meditating. During one point of the meditation, they actually tell you to smile and keep that smile on your face. While awkward at first, it released those negative feelings that I was experiencing and gave me a whole new tool to deal with those emotions when they arise.

Smiling is at the core of the Bring Smiles to Seniors program. That is the reason it is part of our name. The cards are designed to lift the spirits of those that often live in a mundane existence without any reminder that they are remembered or cared for. They are reminders that they matter, that they are loved and they still have purpose and meaning. We have seen first hand what the power of a card can do. People have spoken and moved when they had not been seen doing so for long periods of time. The people who receive them cherish them as if they were one of their important life possessions.

At the end of my posts and podcasts, I usually tell people to be the reason someone smiles. There is a reason for that. In doing so we not only bring joy to another fellow human being, we also bring joy to ourselves. The feeling we get when we have been successful in making someone feel good, wanted, needed and special is better than any medicine that we could ever take. The harmony that we create in the world by not only being kind to each other, but also to ourselves is the true connection of spirit and compassion.

Today, I hope that you have that opportunity to not only look in the mirror and smile at yourself, but also to share that smile with someone else. Find that one moment where you can impact someone else’s life in a way that you may have never imagined. Both you and they will reap the benefit of the kindness.

SPECIAL NOTE: I will be taking a two week break to relax and recharge before we go into the final months of the year. During this time I will be setting some of my original writings to post during this time. New posts will begin again the middle of September.

Mornings with Ron is also a podcast at anchor.fm.morningswithron and on iHeartRadio, Apple and Google Podcast, Spotify and most podcast sites.