Use your smile to cultivate your open mind.

When you are caught in the throes of your unquestioned thoughts, painful beliefs and unmet expectations it is often hard to cultivate an open mind. 

When you are in charge of a team and they don’t perform, how do you stay open-minded about their shortcomings? Is it even advisable?

If something goes wrong and you just know it will have terrible consequences, how do you stay away from the gut-wrenching rabbit hole of dark prophecy, anger, and blame, and instead stay peaceful and connected? Is it even honest?

With you being responsible for performance and output how do you stay even at all times, and stir away from your internal turmoil? Doesn’t it sometimes seem like a helpful turmoil?

Of course, we know it is essential to stay open-minded if you want to be efficient, dynamic and responsive. And sometimes it can be hard.

Smiling can be one of your ways of moving yourself back into effortless flow. 

Just try it next time.

When you smile, all the muscles in your face get relaxed. 

The physiology of your body has multiple feedback loops – and they can work in both directions. A ‘normal’ loop would be 

• The thought that something is wrong

• The emotion of fear, anger, etc – (directs body language and facial expression, uses fight or flight physiology)

• The reaction of blame (this can be directed at self, or just occur internally – facial expression/body language/tone of voice) 

• Fixing reality – plan of changing what happened as quickly as possible

• Act.

The presence of adrenaline in your body invites further thought along the same lines. You continue to live in the reality where something is wrong.

Smiling releases endorphins –

those make your body feel more comfortable. As muscles relax and dictate facial expression and body language, different thoughts can arise. Your mind can stay open.

When you start this use of smiling to keep an open mind, watch what happens – it really is fascinating!

Your mind and body first go into the old pattern of internal pain and opposition. This holds a lot of energetic charge! Then you remember the smile – it will feel really forced! Just get still at that moment and watch your internal world. You’ll experience the wrestling of 2 opposing forces in that body of yours.

One, that wants to be comfortable, open and relaxed.

And the other that thrives on pain. That one will scream at you that you are being dishonest, silly, pointless, and whatever else it needs to say to bring you back to pain. It has no chance if you just watch and continue to smile.

Your smile gets wider, and the charge in your body is reversed. You will feel intensely alive. The moment you stop opposing reality in this way solutions become apparent. You might even break out into laughter.

At that point, people might think you’ve gone crazy. You can meet them there – up until that smile, you have been somewhat crazed. Now you are back to sanity.

Smiling is a wonderful act.

As you get used to it you’ll find the solutions pouring in when you don’t oppose what just happened. Life flows when you allow it to. 

Smiling at a problem could just be the height of efficiency.