Smile by thomas Blog entry

Blog: Journey of Light
by thomas

Smile

A Simple Reminder of the Power a Smile Can Have

Date: 10/17/2005 3:42:56 PM ( 19 y ) ... viewed 2510 times

When I checked my e-mail this morning, I had received a message from Yehuda Berg and the Kabbalah Centre. The weekly messages they send out are called a Weekly Consciousness Tune-Up. The e-mail presents one of the 72 names of God as presented by Yehuda Berg in his book: The 72 Names of God: Technology for the Soul. The name contained in the e-mail is then to be scanned and a meditation is to be read and concentrated upon. There is a belief that the actual letters of the name and the name itself have a power and energy to them. When scanned that power is taken within us. Well this week’s name was Happiness. I would like to share the ending of his accompanying message which I thought was really interesting/important regarding happiness and smiling.

“If you’re holding onto negativity, you need to drop it because it’s going to burn you up.

Your plan for this week is simple: Be light, be silly, be goofy. Just be happy. Skip instead of walk. Dance with the kids. Listen to your favorite music while scanning The Zohar or doing the Ana Bekoach.

I know that last one sounds weird. Scanning is serious business, right? Wrong. Your consciousness fuels these tools and when you’re flowing with happiness and gratitude, you’re filling your tank with high octane.

And if you’re still in a funk, then begin the practice of intentionally smiling. The Kabbalists teach that a smile is the first step to a life of healthy mental, physical and spiritual health. When you have a smile on your face, you release more serotonin and endorphins (happiness hormones) than nonsmilers do.

The power of excitement and happiness can transform any problem you face.

If walking around with a stupid smile on your face means you’re crazy, then go ahead and get crazy!”

Wasn’t that just a great message? It is an important reminder that sometimes all we need to do is smile. It can’t get any easier than that. I think it is extremely important to remember this fact when we are living a life of reflection and trying to let go of so much of the baggage we have carried around. When you’re involved in that process it seems based on my own experiences that you can begin to take yourself too seriously. A person can get bogged down by the seriousness of the work they have done and at times get frustrated with the work still ahead. So it is at these times that we must concentrate on the joy and the happiness we will experience when we are fully aware of who we are and the power we have over creating our lives. And to me that is best done by engaging happiness in every aspect of our lives.

Go out with friends and enjoy yourself. Make room for ME time. Yes, that’s right. Make sure to set aside time that is dedicated strictly to yourself. Make it a goal not to take yourself/problems/issues too seriously. Lighten up and feel that lightness. There is that saying that goes, Angels fly because they take themselves lightly. Well it is time to fly. And what better way to lighten yourself than with a smile. I don’t think we often realize the power a smile can have over us. To some it may be nothing more than the contraction of muscles of the face producing a look upon the face that carries an association with the human emotion of happiness. This, as I am sure you would agree, is a rather clinical view of a smile. It fails to grasp the real power a smile can have.

When we smile it affects the whole of our being. A smile is not just a reflection of a single aspect of our being as it is felt within us completely: body, mind and spirit. Smiles carry a powerful energy. And through that smile we can share that energy with others. How many of us have been in grumpy moods and all you need is a glance over at someone who in a seemingly unimportant gesture, smiles. And that smile is all it took to melt the ice prince/princess. Or how many of us have experienced firsthand or through someone else the power a smile or laughter has in healing. We all know the phrase: laughter is the best medicine. It’s true. And laughter begins and ends with a beautiful smile.

Yet while we recognize that there is a tremendous affect that smiling has on our mind and our spirit. Yehuda reminds us that it also has a link to our physiology. When we smile, we are actually increasing the amount of serotonin and endorphins into our systems which in turn create a greater feeling and sense of well being in our systems. Finally we have a circle that isn’t vicious!

So I guess we can give ourselves all a prescription for smiling. 100 cc’s of smiling or 1000 mg of uproarious laughter for everyone. Thankfully, smiling is not something we have to look to a bottle or a doctor to provide. So this week I am going to write this prescription for myself. I am going to make a concerted effort to smile at everyone I see, especially me. I am going to smile on the inside just as much if not more than on the outside. If I happen to get into a bad mood, or get angry, or sad, or jealous, or guilty, or inadequate or anything else, I am going to force a smile on my face and see what happens. It will be like my very own experiment. So I can see firsthand the power of a smile. This will enable me to learn that a smile can change my mood and change me for the better. We all should try this out this week. I wonder what would happen then? How would we feel collectively, I wonder?

If you would like to learn more more about Yehuda Berg and his teachings on the Kabbalah, he has the following two books that I know about:

The 72 Names of God, and
The Power of Kabbalah

I have looked at the 72 names book and would recommend it. There is a lot of good information in there and plenty of wonderful meditations. I also am about 2/3rds through the Power of Kabbalah book. I have enjoyed most of it, although there are parts that don’t resonate with me. So I pretty much take what I like and leave the rest.

If you would like to sign up and receive Yehuda Berg’s Consciousness Tune-Up, you can register on the site http://www.72.com. As part of singing up, you can also find out your own personal 72 Name of God. I believe it is based on your birth date.

As a side note, here is my personal name and what it means:

YUD YUD YUD (#22) -- STOP FATAL ATTRACTION. Through the power of this name, your soul is filled with spiritual Light and evil people are banished from your presence.

Pretty cool huh?