Each year on the first Friday in October, World Smile Day devotes a day to smiles and spreading random acts of kindness.
If someone smiles at you, you’re bound to smile back. A smile can be used to express a feeling, encourage someone or be used as a greeting. If you don’t smile enough, #WorldSmileDay is the perfect day to start.
There are many benefits of smiling:
- Improves mood
- Lowers blood pressure
- Relieves stress
- Betters relationships
- Boosts the immune system
- Relieves pain
- Increases life expectancy
Who wouldn’t want all those benefits? All it takes is smiling. And the more often, the better!
WORLD SMILE DAY HISTORY
In 1963, Harvey Ball created the familiar yellow smiley face. A commercial artist from Massachusetts, Harvey Ball, created the smiley face design for a State Mutual Life Insurance company campaign. The goal of his smiley face was to spread goodwill and cheer throughout the world. Through the years, Ball became concerned that his image was becoming too commercialized. In doing so, the original intent of the smiley face was getting lost. However, the design was never copyrighted.
To bring back the original meaning of his smiley face, Ball declared the first Friday of October annually would be dedicated to smiles. He called it World Smile Day.
Ball died in 2001, and shortly afterward the Harvey Ball World Smile Foundation was founded. The foundation is the official sponsor of the happy observance.
