(If you want to hear Lori read this story click)here

 

This Ted Talk describes the influence of smiling. The engaging speaker refers to a gamut of research spanning sixty years and four continents.  Ron Gutman posits that the jolt of one smile outstrips 2,000 bars of chocolate, or $25,000 in your pocket. As someone who currently has chocolate stashed in three different corners of my kitchen,  this is news. He refers to a longitudinal study that accurately predicts marital success based on the smile in your yearbook photo. Gutman even points to a seven year increase in the life expectancy of Major league players based on the smiles on their baseball cards. 

 

My life is more anecdotal. I have watched the unquenchable thirst of family and strangers for a child's smile. When Micah was nine he used to endlessly throw a Nerf ball into Zachary's baby belly just to hear a ripple of laughter. When our family went to Disneyland and Benjamin met Buzz Lightyear face to face he bounced as if he were on a pogo stick. Ben's smile was wide enough to let the eruption of happiness gush out. His big sibs still hold it as one of the shiniest Odhner moments. There is actually a contest that begins every November to see whose Christmas present to Benjamin gets the broadest smile. I have not seen the receipts, but apparently the oldest four kids pay generously to win.

 

Your marriage may feel the vacillating effects of employment, health and the economy like so many siphons draining your emotional tank. But there is one inexhaustible super power hiding below your very own nose.

 

Photo by Jenny Stein

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