03 Smile Right Now

The third phrase I want to cover in my Fletchifesto is a funny little phrase:  Smile Right Now!

My thought on this is simple: Most people don't smile. As soon as they read this line on my manifesto, I am hoping it will put a smile on their face. I even added a little smiley face graphic to encourage the smiling process. I hope you are smiling right now. If not, look at 8yr old Fletch in the picture below. That will definitely help.

How many times have you heard someone say, "It takes more muscles to frown than it takes to smile!"? Even though my entire career is based on teeth, smiles and the anatomy of the head and neck, I struggle with this statement. I don't actually know the muscle count on smiling versus frowning, but I know that I rarely frown. Like most people I tend to cruise around with a face at rest. No muscle flexing at all. The problem is that it looks emotionless. In women, Kendra refers to this as RBF (Resting Bitch Face). It's a legitimate thing.

So, I decided to encourage a little smiling. It's a simple statement and very easy to do. Try it. RIght now. Smile. Then go find someone and smile at them. Chances are they will smile back. Boom! You've just added two smiles to the world. Keep going. Let's make it our goal to add smiles all over the place.

Note: Some of you are embarrased to smile. Sure, Julia Roberts and Jennifer Aniston have knock-out smiles. Denzel Washington has always melted Kendra with his handsome smile. Everyday I hear about my office manager Trudi and her beautiful smile. But, when it comes to smiling, you don't need to have perfect teeth like these people (my apologies to the orthodontic community). Did you know Tom Cruise is missing one of his front teeth? Fact! This guy has a pretty great smile too! Even babies, dogs and elephants have great smiles. So get out there! Start smiling!

Quietly making noise,
Fletch