Snippets- Smile: The Astonishing Powers of a Simple Act

Smile:  The Astonishing Powers of a Simple Act is a short book published by the TED foundation.  Ron Gutman combines experiences from his cross-cultural experiences with scientific research about the benefits of smiling.  He highlights the individual and social benefits of smiling.  The book is easy to read, presenting a variety of research in an entertaining way, interspersed with numerous anecdotes.  Summarizing the main points of the book, Gutman writes:
"We’ve already established that big, genuine smiles make us feel better inside. Smiling this way activates the emotional processing centers of our brains and produces real, tangible pleasure that we can experience and enjoy. Not only do we feel good, we also look good to others around us. We’re perceived to be more friendly, sociable, trustworthy, and even more competent. When others see us smiling, they see us in a better light, and they instinctively and instantaneously mimic our smiles. This smile activates the emotional processing centers of their brains and makes them feel better. It also strengthens our connection to them and improves our social interactions. If common sense didn’t tell us this already, researchers from Yale University and UC Berkeley have confirmed that smiling sends others on their way, feeling better and carrying smiles with them, to start again the same feedback loop with others. Smiling is “viral” indeed!" (Kindle location 770)

The book also includes Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch's teaching on the power of smiling:
A smile costs nothing, but gives much. It enriches those who receive, without making poorer those who give. It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. None is so rich or mighty that he can get along without it, and none is so poor but that he can be made rich by it. A smile creates happiness in the home, fosters goodwill in business, and is the countersign of friendship. It brings rest to the weary, cheer to the discouraged, sunshine to the sad, and is nature’s best antidote for trouble, yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen. For it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away. Some people are too tired to give you a smile. Give them one of yours, as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give.  (Kindle location 395)

The book is concise and interesting, and as I read, I found myself wanting to smile.

Smile: The Astonishing Powers of a Simple Act (Kindle Single) (TED Books)