Every year the first Friday of October is celebrated as the World Smile Day.
This day was created by a commercial artist called Harvey Ball in 1963 – he created this day in celebration of the smiley face symbol which we have all come to know and use on a pretty much daily basis.
It was a simple thing, a circle with a few dots and an upturned curve, but put together Harvey Ball created one of the most iconic symbols the world had ever seen, and it would quickly come to infect everything from graffiti to modern day emoji’s.
Harvey sadly passed away in 2001, but the foundation he helped create, the Harvey Ball World Smile Foundation, has carried on his message of simple peace and love as the sponsor of World Smile Day every year.
Research shows that children smile an average of 400 times per day, compared to the average happy adult who smiles 40-50 times per day and the typical adult who smiles only 20 times per day. Then we wonder that why children are happy and we aren’t.
Whether it’s just a simple compliment, a warm hello, a gift of something small or a small help to brighten their day, World Smile Day encourages people to take action to bring a few more smiles into the world.
Smiling not only offers a mood boost but helps our bodies release cortisol and endorphins that provide numerous health benefits, including: Reduced blood pressure, increased endurance, reduced pain, reduced stress and strengthened immune system.
So smiling has a very positive on your body as well so it works in both ways mentally along with physically so why not try to smile a little bit more today to feel the impact yourself.
