The power of a smile ... evening 8/40

'Smiling could help you to live longer'. So the Telegraph reports today; and not just any old smile. Fake smiles don't work. Only those with genuine smiles of happiness get the benefit!

Well it clearly isn't the business of stretching our faces that leads to more years, but there must be something in that positive outlook on life and deep-down joy and thankfulness for all we have that makes us more likely to be healthy and well all round.  So I'm trying to smile more even though I'm gazing out on an increasingly sodden blob of blue canvas.

At the orphanage there's every reason to smile.  There's no missing the deep-down contentment of the boys and girls even in the light of their heart-wrenching histories. They smile in groups ...

They smile on their own ...

One of the things I love about being there is seeing their sheer joy and smiles when the children meet each new team for the first time. Here's an international language if ever we want one. And everything about those smiles is cast-iron copper-bottomed guaranteed as genuine.

So this evening I'll remind myself of the importance of smiling - not to gain extra years, but genuinely to express the deep-down joy I know within.

Might you consider that trade I mentioned at the top ... your 40 for my 40? If that's just too much of a stretch, anything will bring a smile!

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