Smile!

July 1st, 2023| Topic: RaMbLeS | 2

The New York Times reported on an interesting tidbit recently.

About six years ago, Keiko Kawano, a radio host, found that when she stopped doing voice-articulation exercises, her smile began to fade. At a certain point, she struggled to lift the corners of her mouth. So Ms. Kawano, then 43, decided to learn how facial muscles work. After using the knowledge to reanimate her smile, she started helping others do the same under the motto, “More smile, more happiness.”

Apparently, Ms. Kawano’s unsmiling features is a common affliction these days in Japan as the peoples of that nation unmask after three years of donning COVID coverings. Their facial expressions are seemingly a bit rusty.

Ms. Kawano:

People have not been raising their cheeks under a mask or trying to smile much. Now, they’re at a loss.”

So she’s teaching smiling!

Actually she began doing so several years before COVID, while working as a business etiquette trainer, drawing on yoga and emphasizing strengthening the zygomatic muscles, which pull up the corners of the mouth.

People train their body muscles, but not their faces.”

She took her gig beyond the gym, to nursing homes and corporate office, and even to homes, where individuals hoped a better smile might help to land better jobs or improve marriage prospects. One early client was IBM Japan, where she held a smiling-training session for company employees and their families.

But after COVID came the biggest spike in demand for her services, when the government announced that official masking recommendations would be significantly loosened.

Ms. Kawano again:

People started realizing that they hadn’t used their cheek or mouth muscles very much. “And you can’t just suddenly start using these muscles. You need to work on them.”

Said Prof. Yael Hanein, of Tel Aviv University, and an expert on facial expressions:

I am not aware of any academic studies documenting the effects of long-term masking on facial muscles. But facial muscles can be trained like other muscles.

Ms. Kawano also holds a one-day certification training for people who want to teach smiling for 80,000 yen, plus consumption tax, about $650.

Masami Yamaguchi, a psychologist at Chuo University, is all for it:

A smile-training course could help people improve their facial expressions and even build self-confidence. Intentional muscle moves will send signals to your brain and generate positive feelings, even if you are not feeling happy.”

But why should we not be happy? After all, believers, as God’s children have …

… joy in God’s presence.

I have set Yahweh before me continually ….
Therefore my heart is joyous and my inner being jubilates ….
You will make known to me the path of life;
fullness of joy [is with] Your presence;
pleasures in Your right hand perpetually.
Psalm 16:8–9, 11

… joy in God’s grace.

I will jubilate and be joyous in Your lovingkindness,
because You see my affliction.
Psalm 31:7

… joy in God’s forgiveness.

Hide Your presence from my sins,
and all my iniquities wipe away. …
Return to me the joy of Your deliverance ….
my tongue will shout joyfully of Your righteousness.
Psalm 51:9, 12, 14

… joy in God’s protection.

As with fat and richness [of food] my soul is satisfied,
and with lips joyfully shouting my mouth offers praise. …
For You have been a help to me,
and in the shadow of Your wings I shout with joy.
Psalm 63:5, 7

… joy in God’s word.

I have inherited Your decrees forever,
for they are the joy of my heart.
Psalm 119:111

Smile, y’all!

SOURCE: The New York Times