24 Oct 2017  |   05:44am IST

Smile costs nothing But gives much

Maria Martha Fernandes

A smile, someone once said, 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 cannot get along without it and none is so poor that he cannot be made rich by it.  Yet a smile 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.

Smile, it increases your face value. Goodness is the only investment that never fails When you smile, the world smiles with you.

There is a simple reason for this phenomenon:  when we smile, we are letting people know we are happy to be with them, happy to meet them, happy to be interacting with them. They in turn feel happier to be dealing with us.  To someone who has seen a dozen people frown, scowl or turn their faces away, your smile is like the sun breaking through the clouds. Your smile is often the first messenger of your goodwill. 

Of course we don't always feel like smiling, but if we make the effort, we not only make those around us happier but also become happier ourselves.  You may not be particularly exuberant, outgoing person, but a smile takes little effort - and the rewards can be astonishing.

Thank goodness for smiles, which can do a better job of clarifying our messages than anything - even if they take the form of traditional emoticons, little faces composed of ordinary Keyboard characters designed to give much-needed context for our communications.

Outside of emoticons and emojis, there is only one medium in which you can convey a digital smile - your voice, whether it is written or spoken.  How you write an email, the tone you use, and the words you choose are critical tools of friendliness and subsequent influence. Your written words are like the corners of your mouth: they turn up, they remain straight, or they turn down. The subsequent effect  whether the words garner friendships and influence - has much to do with the linear trajectory of the emotion they convey.

Smile through your written words and you convey to others that their well-being is important to you. You and your message will have the best chance of being received. Frown through your words and others will often frown on the message and messenger.

These conclusions certainly do not account for those occasions when a more serious tone ought to be taken. Still, a good rule of thumb here is to make sure the linear thread of the message trends upward.  Always begin and end the message on a positive note rather than on a pessimistic or detached one. Between two people there is nearly always a reason to smile.  If you can't see a reason, then perhaps you need to wait before you write or not write at all.  

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