Once you get the hang of it, blessing others because we are blessed is a ton of fun. But it’s not always easy.

I have been accused of being someone who has a positive attitude to the max, and part of the reason is that I refuse to focus on the negativity in life. One of the hardest things to flip is our wrong attitude! Attitude is a big piece of the blessing puzzle, and it doesn’t cost a dime!

One of the simplest ways to bless someone is with a smile. Make no mistake—your smile is a superpower! God's Word reminds us:

“A glad heart makes a happy face; a broken heart crushes the spirit.” (Proverbs 15:13, NLT)

Scientifically speaking, a smile reduces stress by suppressing cortisol and increases happiness by releasing endorphins. Of course, it doesn’t take a scientific study to convince us of the benefits of smiling. It’s intuitive. What’s counterintuitive is this: We don’t just smile because we’re happy.

We’re happy because we smile. A smile has the power to hack your emotions and trick your brain.

Did you know that children smile approximately four hundred times per day, while adults smile an average of twenty times per day? Somewhere between childhood and adulthood, we lose 380 smiles! We’ve got to get some of those smiles back! Smiling is the way we steward our forty-three facial muscles as well as the seventh cranial nerve that controls them.

When I was in high school, I remember doing “yawn experiments” during class just to pass the time. If I remember correctly, I catalyzed a record chain reaction of seventeen people yawning. It’s amazing how subconsciously contagious a yawn is. The way it works is if you see someone yawning, you tend to yawn. Try it and see!

A smile is contagious too! If you want to have some fun during a meeting or party or dinner gone dull, try a smile experiment. Target the person who seems like the least likely person to crack a smile; then start sending some smiles their way. If a regular smile doesn’t work, you have permission to silly smile just to break the ice!

What if we leveraged our smiles as a subtle way of blessing others?

Of course, I better add one warning: smiling is scientifically proven to make you more attractive! So, if you are single and looking, a smile may be the way forward!

“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.” (Proverbs 17:22, NLT)

• How could a simple smile from you encourage others today?
• How could you practice smiling to change your own attitude right now?

Rejoicing, On the Victory Side!

Beau