PEACE BEGINS WITH A SMILE




















“Stop smiling. Every time you smile, an angel dies.” 

― Kristan Higgins, My One and Only


I do not know who Kristan Higgins is and what made her say this. Read it again and you may surely wonder, as I do now: Why should an angel die every time I smile? After all, smile is a very potent weapon… and, if at all it should kill, it should kill a devil… Why an angel?

A certain problem was causing a great deal of stress in me. Just this morning, I found myself caught up in a negative thought-web and reacting with pain and anger. Some friends, who are my genuine well-wishers, were around me. An elderly gentleman, who always spreads cheer around him, caught my hand and said, “Are we going to have a Christmas party this time?”

The load dropped around my heart, instantly, and I simply smiled… There was peace in my heart!


“Peace begins with a smile,” Mother Teresa would say. The only way to dispel gloom is to greet our problems with a smile… Yes, it can kill the demon… the devil!

So, till I came across the mysterious quote of Kristan Higgins – ‘“Stop smiling. Every time you smile, an angel dies” – I had no plan to write this post. Probably, Higgins wanted to shake me off, draw my attention to the power of a smile.

What am I running from… My problems or my life?

Are we going to have a Christmas party this time?

Yes sir, certainly.



GERALD D’CUNHA


Pic.: Nicole Gubin-O'Ryan

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