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| photo from WSFA 12 News |
Reasons to smile were few and far between in Madison County, Alabama last month. Hundreds of homes were destroyed by Tornadoes that ripped through the small town and levelled everything in their path. The 3,000 residents of Harvest, located on the border of Tennessee, were devastated by the violent storms that wiped out neighborhoods and killed seven people.
The Crosswinds Baptist Church quickly began accepted and handing out donations of food, water and necessary supplies to residents that were left with nothing but the clothes on their backs. But in the middle of the chaotic aftermath, elementary school teacher Kristen Tate started thinking about the prom. Then she headed to the Sparkman High School Library.
Within a week Tate, and a team of volunteers, converted the library into a full scale prom boutique. Kristen’s mother, Jackie Tate explained, "It started off with just a handful of dresses, and now we have about 3,000 dresses that we are placing in these girl's hands." Dresses of all shapes, sizes and colors were donated and girls were invited to step through the doors of the library, escape the ugly reality of their town and get ready for the prom. As the teenagers stood in front of the mirrors and smiled, the volunteers knew they had done the right thing. Trang Do, the author of the article at WAFF wrote, “seeing a girl smile after losing so much was what the drive was all about.” Jackie Tate agreed, “seeing the girls faces made it all worthwhile.”
Smiling is powerful.
Who would think a simple muscle twitch could bring on so many benefits?
Mark Stibich is a behavioral change expert who helps people make changes to their habits in order to achieve success and get healthy. He explains some of the reasons we should smile more often (and help the people around us smile too):
The Crosswinds Baptist Church quickly began accepted and handing out donations of food, water and necessary supplies to residents that were left with nothing but the clothes on their backs. But in the middle of the chaotic aftermath, elementary school teacher Kristen Tate started thinking about the prom. Then she headed to the Sparkman High School Library.
Within a week Tate, and a team of volunteers, converted the library into a full scale prom boutique. Kristen’s mother, Jackie Tate explained, "It started off with just a handful of dresses, and now we have about 3,000 dresses that we are placing in these girl's hands." Dresses of all shapes, sizes and colors were donated and girls were invited to step through the doors of the library, escape the ugly reality of their town and get ready for the prom. As the teenagers stood in front of the mirrors and smiled, the volunteers knew they had done the right thing. Trang Do, the author of the article at WAFF wrote, “seeing a girl smile after losing so much was what the drive was all about.” Jackie Tate agreed, “seeing the girls faces made it all worthwhile.”
Smiling is powerful.
Who would think a simple muscle twitch could bring on so many benefits?
Mark Stibich is a behavioral change expert who helps people make changes to their habits in order to achieve success and get healthy. He explains some of the reasons we should smile more often (and help the people around us smile too):
- smiling makes you look younger and more attractive (without surgery).
- smiling makes people feel good, suddenly everyone wants to be your friend.
- smiling boosts your mood and can trick your body into feeling better
- smiling reduces stress (so smiling at the library must be extra good for you)
- smiling increases the effectiveness of your immune system, maybe because you are more relaxed.
- smiling lowers your blood pressure even if you haven’t given up salt.
- smiling is a free drug, one that increases serotonin and endorphins.
- smiling makes you look more confident, people will respond to you differently.
- smiling keeps you out of the dark side. Stibich writes, “when we smile our body is sending the rest of us a message that “Life is Good!” Stay away from depression, stress and worry by smiling.
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