Return to Smile

When you were born, you cried. That lasted for a few minutes, and soon, you returned to smile.

When you were hungry as one month old, you cried. That lasted until you were given the milk and you returned to smile.

When you had your first day at school, you cried as you wanted to stay home and play. But soon, as you attended the school, made some friends, and you returned to smile.

When you entered your teens, you had a crush on someone. That person did not share the same emotions for you. When you discovered that, you cried. But soon, you shifted your focus on sports and achieved a notable success. You returned to smile.

In the college, when your best friend got much higher grades than you, you secretly cried. But then joined the music class and learned to sing well. You returned to smile.

When you got your first job in a small company for less salary, and two of your college-friends got the job for a much higher package with notable perks, you cried. But then you realized that the small company enhanced your skills way better than your friends, and you could now survive any recession and layoffs, you returned to smile.

When the person you loved rejected your love, you cried. But then you focused all your energies on building your version 2.0 which everyone took a note of including your earlier love interest; you returned to smile.

When you left your six-figure corporate job to start your own business, and that company failed while your colleagues and friends continued to get even higher salaries and had a better life, you cried. But you chose to work with a single focus, and your company got acquired for a few million in a few years, you returned to smile.

When you suspected that you are going to have an incurable disease, and you rushed to the hospital, soon to discover that it is curable and not serious at all, you returned to smile.

The smile is the outcome of awareness. When I see someone smiling, I know that he or she is dwelling in awareness.

The famous Vietnamese Zen monk, Thich Nhat Hanh wrote this in his famous book of 1992, “Peace is Every Step — The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life” has referred to the below poem:

I have lost my smile,
but don’t worry.
The dandelion has it.

This simple poem offers a deep meaning.

Even if you have lost your smile, but you are still capable of seeing that a dandelion is keeping your smiles for you, the situation is, in fact, very good.

You have enough mindfulness to observe that Returning to Smile is still possible.

You only need to continue breathing as mindfully as you can, and you will return to your smile sooner than later:

• The Dandelion is not merely the wild plant with yellow flower with lots of thin petals; it could be anyone who is there for you: your family member, your friend, your pet cat … anyone to whom you matter is keeping your smile for you.
• If you can let the past moments die and refer to it only when it is entirely relevant and pleasant to the present, you reach a step closer to returning to your smile.
• If you feel the power of this moment and with the fullness of your being, feel your presence, you reach two steps closer to returning to your smile.
• If you open yourself to the support that is all around you, and within you, you can breathe in awareness and return to your smile sooner than later.

Regardless of the past event that made you cry, appreciate yourself in your present form. Feel the power of NOW. Imagine the next deliberate experience you want to embrace, and you’ll be returning to smile sooner than later.