Prepent Day 33: In Search of Fewer Fake Smiles

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By Amichai Lau-Lavie October 6, 2016

Thursday 10/06/16

Tishrei 4 5777

Dear Smile,

Research shows that even faking you helps boost morale and it’s tried and true – a smile is one of those contagious gestures that can transform a room or road in an instant to more pleasant. We smile for many reasons but perhaps we don’t do so with sincerity quite enough. Speaking for myself – this coming year, I want to.

I get the social reality of fake smiling when living in an urban reality of so many encounters, and I get behind the spectrum of emojis that we get to share on screens for any sort of smiling reason. It all works.

But I want you in my life – less fake more real this coming year, I want to upgrade smiling from inside, both on my face and those of others.

I see myself in many photos and cringe – why don’t I smile more? When did I get to be so serious. The fake smile feels and looks it. I don’t want to say cheese. I want to smile more, and to mean it.

There’s a science to our smiles, and this short vid. About the Duchenne Smile is just one quick probe into the thing we do or don’t each day and could, perhaps, do better. The emotionally activated smile, engaging both eyes and mouth, is named for the 18th century French neurologist who first researched the difference between smiles of the will and smiles of the heart.

On day 33, focused on the big and small ways of improving life for me and others – I want to smile more from the heart. Too late for this round of PREPENT, I found this 21 day smile diet, with little tips for bigger smiles.

Will you please remind me? I’ll see you on other faces and remember to pass you on.

🙂

Love,

Amichai

Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie is the founder and spiritual leader of Lab/Shul in Manhattan.

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