Be a Smile Millionaire
23rd Aug 2022 | Author - Viraj Malik
"A genuine smile distributes cosmic energy into every body cell". This is the famous line stated by Yogananda Paramhansa, the first Indian Yoga Guru who popularised Yoga in the West. He taught that one should smile in life irrespective of the situations one faces. He said, all of us can be a smile millionaires as this is a free gift that all of us have and we can share it as much as we can with others. A smile often reciprocates as a smile from the other person and spreads happiness. He taught his disciples to start the day with a big smile and radiate smiles towards the universe and every living being. He said we can be very generous with our smiles as all of us are blessed with abundant smiles, making us all millionaires.
Yogananda Ji's intuitive understanding of how smiling changes brain chemistry is now validated by psychologists and brain scientists who all agree that smiling is the most effective tool to break negative thinking patterns, so the more we smile, the more our brain can create positive thinking patterns. A happy person often attracts good health and better circumstances than a non-happy person. Yogananda ji attributed this to the flow of energy. He said that a happy person attracts more universal energy and the higher the flow of energy, the higher the magnetism of the person.
If we have to analyse smiles medically, they release certain hormones, including dopamine and serotonin. Dopamine increases our feelings of happiness. Serotonin release is associated with reduced stress. Low levels of serotonin are associated with depression and aggression, and low levels of dopamine are also associated with depression. Smiling is therefore a protection against depression and aggression.
No one likes to be around an unhappy person, while we all like to be around happy people. Yogananda Ji recommended affirmations and systematic training of ourselves to be happy and smile all the time.
1. Fake it till you make it: Start your day with a smile, look into the mirror, and even stretch your lips to create a fake smile till you are able to get a genuine smile. Try to smile as much as you can. Try to reciprocate the smiles and initiate a smile chain.
2. Affirm repeatedly: "I am a smiling prince or princess, a smiling millionaire-I radiate rich smiles to sad hearts freely." Make a target to smile every day with our loved ones, our friends, and colleagues in the office.
3. Surround yourself with happy people: Initially, when we are trying to learn the art of abundant smiling, we should avoid toxic people and situations till we are able to develop our own reservoir of smiles and happiness. Avoid the oversupply of media as it's full of content that drains away happy emotions.
4. Find your joyful activity: A lot of us are bored with life, so it's important to find a joyful activity that we enjoy. It could be a sport, a trek, learning to play, learning to dance, or even an inward activity like yoga or meditation, which helps us to wash away stored toxic emotions.
We would realise that once we transformed ourselves into smile millionaires, our lives would change, and we would not react to situations in the same way that we did when we were unhappy and anxious. As a result, our lives start changing for the better and life starts becoming effortless and a bundle of joy.
