When you have more decades behind you than ahead of you the mirror reflection tells a much deeper story than just wrinkles and lines.

Each line represents a story, a moment in time when life happened. Perhaps we can’t trace each one to a specific event but we certainly can recall occurrences that brought about an emotion or two and left it’s mark.

When we look in the mirror, what is our usual reaction, a smile, a frown, a quizzical expression?

Looking in a mirror as a child we see innocence, purity, vulnerability and a spark of hope for what is yet to come. If you’ve ever noticed children seeing their reflection in a mirror it usually includes a smile. They like what they see. Why not? It’s validating and inspires confidence. It also encourages experimentation, like sticking out tongues, crossing eyes and generally silly expressions that promote laughter and creativity.

Somewhere along life’s journey that smile may become hard to muster in some cases. It’s obviously still available to see and on occasion we might surprise ourselves with a big grin, but we use it sparingly.

For those who read my blogs regularly, you know that I often include a list of some sort. Here is another one.

Reasons to resurrect your smile in 2022.

1. We’ve all heard that it takes less facial muscle to frown than to smile so we might want to smile more often just for the pure exercise value.
2. We’ve been seeing masks for about two years now and we all need to see folks smiling again.
3. Smiling at others signals that you see them and you care about them.
4. Smiling at yourself in the mirror sends positive, self-affirming signals to your brain.
5. Smiles cost you nothing, but yield great benefits.
6. Even your dog appreciates your smile, according to new studies on the subject.

With the last few years of not seeing faces, it’s about time to break out those smiles again. Never thought much about New Year’s resolutions before, mainly because they are so hard to keep. But this smiling thing might just be doable. Give it a try, I know I am.

https://www.livescience.com/14728-dog-smile-facial-expression-communication.html