Smile!

Did that make you smile? I love smiling. Sometimes, when I'm not in my sunny best, I try to fake my way to happy by smiling. A huge wide smile that sets crinkles up my eyes then catapults back to my heart and mind.   It's my instant upper!

Smiling is actually a trait inherent to us Filipinos. No wonder we were dubbed as the "Smiling Nation." We smile and laugh our hearts out like silly. And we smile despite difficulties. It is truly endearing how we show our resilience with the way we smile.

Notice however that after a few minutes though from the initial call to smile, we also begin to get conscious and try to hide our smile by covering our mouth. You see it happening when reporters interview the regular Juan and Juana, flash a beaming wide smile, followed by a cover of the mouth.   Make a Manang in the market smile with a joke, flash smile, followed again by a hand covering the mouth.

It turns out, we Filipinos have underlying oral health issues. [Read more...]