I often bristle at the word “communication”. This is a tough word. It’s tough because so many people have such varied definitions of what exactly “communication” means. Here’s an insight; the human being cannot not communicate. Communicating is always on, always going and always being observed and responded to.

June is National Communication Month. It’s also National Smile Month. This got me to thinking, how about making “smile” the communication that we all consciously use for one month? (I’d actually like it to be for the year, but let’s start small)

Everyone knows that moods are non-verbal communications of how you are really feeling. Babies instinctively respond to smiles, and we respond in kind to theirs. You might say the words, “I’m fine” at a cocktail party when someone asks you how you are doing, but you know that you just had a blowout with your boss and are still fuming and frustrated, there’s nothing in your body language that supports the “I’m fine” statement, and nobody’s fooled. To change the mood, add in a smile. The corners of your mouth simultaneously being raised sends a signal to your brain that you are “smiling” and therefore happy, and so the brain then releases chemicals to support that truth. Before you know it you are feeling better.

Smiles are hard to fake. They are also wonderfully contagious. Smiles can change a mood, of yourself or of others around you, in a moment.

Smile, and the world smiles with you.