Smile

A smile is the prettiest thing you can wear. It makes you feel good, it tops up the confidence and it can make someone’s day. Some say it takes less muscles to smile than it does to frown, there are different figures bandied about, but the positive repercussions of a smile surely outweigh a frown. I had a quick shufty on t’internet as my ‘A’ level human biology is a bit rusty and here follows the biology of a smile in a nutshell:

The muscles of expression around the mouth are…depressor anguli oris, therisorius, zygomaticus major, zygomaticus minor and levator labii superioris. When we use them to lift the mouth into a smile they trigger the facial nerve that sends signals to the brain that you are smiling. Endorphins are then released into the blood stream. Dopamine is the ‘happy hormone’ and it reduces stress and gives a feeling of well being.

Okay, it may be a bit more technical than that, but basically if we smile we feel good. A smile is like a mirror. Smile at it and it smiles right back at you. How many times have you smiled at a stranger and they automatically smile back at you? The answer is probably, ‘not enough’. If you smile at a stranger you might just change a life. That sounds a bit dramatic but think of chaos theory and the butterfly effect. The flap of a butterfly in the Amazon can cause a tornado in Texas. It won’t actually cause a tornado, but small things have a linear impact on a complex system. Small actions have consequences. We all know the nursery rhyme:

For want of a nail a shoe was lost

For want of a shoe a rider was lost

For want of a rider a horse was lost

For want of a horse a battle was lost

For want of a battle a kingdom was lost

All for the want of a horse shoe nail

If everything does have a consequence then let’s throw smiles out there and make good things happen because let’s face it if someone smiles at you it makes you feel nice. They might go on to smile at someone else, they might start talking to a stranger, love might blossom…okay I’m getting carried away, but you get the gist. If someone frowns at you then you think, heck, what have I done to upset them! or yes mate, I feel rubbish today too! or why did I bother getting out of bed today?? or life is bad enough without you making my day any worse….

There is a point to all this preamble, honestly. I’ve seen some great smiles recently and they need sharing.

I took part in the Neon Night Swim down at Salford Quays. What a great night it was, it was a lovely evening, the inky black water was about eighteen degrees and as flat as a mill pond. Karen and Dave and all the Uswim team always run a good event and, of course, they greet us with a smile. (Yes, I’m going to keep the smile theme running all through this.)🙂

We have to wear a glow stick to swim in so we can be seen in the dark and we are encouraged to have neon paints and dress up. I don’t need much encouragement for a fun event like that. I decided to make the Detroit Bridge that scans the Quays and wear it on my head.

People came and took my photo, they commented on land and whilst swimming. I looked a prat but I made people smile. The event was great and we all grinned from ear to ear all night.

I realise that a dip in the Quays is not everyone’s cup of tea and it would incite a grimace rather than a smile, but for us hearty souls it was heaven.

So if cold water isn’t your thing then maybe a holiday is. It certainly made Sue and I smile on our girly trip to Norfolk.

We stayed in a lovely lodge, we had fish and chips by the sea (well, that is the law, isn’t it), we had sunshine even though the forecast was for rain, a cheeky drink here and there and lots of laughs.

Who wouldn’t smile when you can steer a boat around the Norfolk Broads, when you can take silly selfies, dodge inquisitive swans and pootle about with other sailors. It is even more fun when you try and get in a boat with Iggle Piggle.

We were working at Bolton Wanderers home ground, The Macron, recently. Alison was on session with us and it was her last session before her wedding day. We decided to make the day as special as we could for her.

The day began with a toast to the blushing bride, Nonsecco, of course, and pastries and chocolates…well it would have been rude not to.

Whilst we were doing what your friendly neighbourhood vampire does best we noticed that Bolton Wanderers were all lining up for an official photo down on the pitch

I thought it would be great if we could get Alison down there for a pic or get them up to us. I had to do some serious schmoozing with a manager who said that they would see what they could do. They tried their best but the team had left just after their photo…but…and this is a good but, their manager, Ian Evatt would come up. When Mike heard that Ian was going to pay us a visit he said he wanted to meet him too as he had been a season ticket holder at Bolton Wanderers since the year dot. There was a donor sitting at the refreshment table wearing a Wanderers football shirt so I went over and told him to hang on for fifteen minutes. I waited, hoping that Mr Evatt wouldn’t let us down…he didn’t. Awww, what a lovely man he is. I called the donor over, he was all flustered but the smile on his face was wonderful. I asked if I could take his photo and I said I’d take one on his phone too. He was like a little kid meeting his idol as he tried to find the camera on his phone. It was great to see his huge grin. As I walked him back he kept saying, “I can’t believe that happened. I never expected that. It’s made my day. I just can’t believe it.”

The next big smiler was Mike.

Last but not least, our bride to be, Alison.

Ian Evatt made the day just that little bit special for three people, just by coming up to say hello he made them smile.

Swimming, holidays, celebrities and weddings all of these made many people smile. It doesn’t have to be a big thing though, sometimes just a silly little thing can make someone’s day. When I took a needle out of a donors arm I told them that we had some brand new technology at NHSBT that can predict the optimum snack for each donor after their donation, I invited them to take part. When they agreed I took a paper fortune teller out of my pocket….

Well, they would burst out laughing before we had even started. “I remember those from school!” Under each number was their optimum snack…water and half a Kit Kat, chocolate and a bag of crisps or….the best ones had a forfeit attached to them. ‘Any three snacks but you have to do a chicken dance first’. ‘Whatever you want but you need to tell me a joke or a funny story first’. (This was the first one I was told…Why didn’t the skeleton go to the party? Because he had no body to go with.🤣) Some chose the booby prize…a slap round the face with a wet kipper and some chose the jackpot, but whatever they got they all smiled.

Michelle and Sarah chose the goody bag. They could have picked up those biscuits from the refreshment table, but the fact that they had ‘won’ them made their day. They might be wearing a mask but you can see the smile that shines around their eyes. They loved it.

One of the best smiles came from Denise. It was her 119th donation, which is fabulous considering it was all whole blood (no double or triple donations of platelets or plasma) and she had time out from donating to have children. Denise was a very young seventy year old, she chose her number which said she could have chocolate but she had to do a chicken dance first. With her plaster on she stood up and did the best chicken dance I’ve ever seen! We were all smiling! In fact our smiles erupted into laughter.

So….smile. Go out there and throw smiles right left and centre. Be the reason that someone smiles! I’ll just add this little video in to hopefully elicit a smile as you go on your way…

Remember…a smile increases your face value 😁