I flew to Edmonton the past week to wit­ness the wedding of my older sister in one of the lovely lake resorts atop the hills in Jasper National Park. It was a touching moment and generally a fun week for my daughter and me as we got reconnected with family members who reside in Alberta and one who drove in from North Battleford. Because it was the first time to meet my brother-in-law, I was on an “observation” mode as I interacted with my new “kuya”. As the days went by, comfort zones were established and we were more comfortable at each other. So while everyone enjoyed the scenic views and picture taking, everyone seemed to coach my brother-in-law to smile during photo shoots, as we always do when we take pictures, especially so when we do the fun and silly poses.

He is a very quiet guy, a man of few words, very observant, and always looking serious. It probably came with training because he works for the Canadian Military Forces for a long time till now. And when we cheered for him to smile, he would sometimes ask us: “Do you know how many muscles you need to smile?” It was a good question but I did not have an answer for him that time. One thing is sure though, that I am not convinced that he re­fused to smile because it was tiring! As I was intrigued and sorry that I can­not remember the answer from my Esthet­ics course, I was not able to argue with him. Anyway, this is what I found on the internet as I have no time to go over my notes, buried in my stacked up filing boxes: “Six pairs of muscles appear to be directly involved in smiling: the levator anguli oris, levator labii superioris, orbicularis oculi, risorius, zygomaticus major, and zygomaticus mi­nor.

This brings the grand total to 12 mus­cles most probably used to smile. Most authorities who are familiar with their anatomy seem to settle on this number, with 11 muscles being used to frown. That’s right: in terms of sheer numbers of muscles involved, it is theoretically easier to frown than to smile.”.

Okay I got the point. There is one extra muscle to smile than it is to frown! But to make that extra muscle to move can’t kill us. Even if I needed 24 more muscles to bring a beam of sunshine to people around me, I will still smile than frown. Do you remember the song “Smile” by Nat King Cole? Here are the lyrics:

Smile though your heart is aching Smile even though its breaking When there are clouds in the sky, you’ll get by If you smile through your fear and sorrow
Smile and maybe tomorrow You’ll see the sun come shining through for you.
Light up your face with gladness Hide every trace of sadness Although a tear may be ever so near That’s the time you must keep on trying Smile, what’s the use of crying? You’ll find that life is still worthwhile if you just smile
A simple and inexpensive tip to make yourself look younger: smile, smile smile .... It is all a matter of being positive and internal­izing positivism in our minds and hearts and the world presents itself back to us in posi­tive ways too. I am sure that my brother-in-law realizes that it is so fun to smile and be silly at times especially being married to a fun lov­ing person like my sister. If smiling were a disease, then I would not mind dy­ing from it at all .... As I always say, life is too short, let us live it with fun while we can. Life becomes easier when we smile!

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