Every year on the first Friday of October World Smile Day is celebrated. Accordingly this year, it is being celebrated today, October 6. The main aim behind celebrating this day is to spread goodwill and happiness.
But it also comes with an interesting story of Harvey Ball who was a commercial artist from Worcester. Massachusetts. He created the smiley face for the first time in 1963. Eventually, it became one of the most recognized symbols in the world and people started using it to cheer or spread goodwill around. But its over-commercialization started worrying Ball and he believed that over the years the Smile symbol has lost its original meaning and intent.
From this concern emerged the concept of World Smile Day. Ball thought that if we devoted a day to the smile and kind acts then it would be certainly remembered exactly for the reason it was created. The first World Smile Day was celebrated in 1999 in Worcester, MA, and since then year after year it has been celebrated across the globe.
A smile goes a long way...
You always try to put a smile on the faces of the people you love by doing things that will instantly light up their faces. But the intention behind World Smile Day is expansive and wider and hence on this day the focus should be on spreading smiles on the faces of the people whom you do not know.
Make it a habit
Being polite to your boss, elders, seniors, or anyone from whom you can benefit something or lose something is just being practical. Pleasing them and making them smile is certainly an act that you are doing to gain something. But when you make others smile without knowing their social stature, financial status, and clout in society then that is where the intention behind celebrating World Smile Day is fulfilled.
Not restricting this gesture but making it a habit over a period of time can make you the most loved person around as everyone loves to be with someone who can lighten their mood and make them smile more often.
Smile is the best ornament
When you smile at others without any intention automatically the other person facing you feels like smiling at you. Even people who do not know you start feeling warm towards you. A smile is like an ornament that will always make your face appear brighter and gift you a smile in return.