A Collection of Smiles

I find it very relaxing to play around with photo editing, like many here at Gather. Sometimes all that is needed is a simple cropping to draw attention to the real focus of a picture, and sometimes you just get some interesting results by playing around with it. Today, I thought I'd share a collection of smiles with you.

 Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.  ~Mother Teresa

 A smile is the light in the window of your face that tells people you're at home.  ~Author Unknown

Smile.  Have you ever noticed how easily puppies make human friends?  Yet all they do is wag their tails and fall over.  ~Walter Anderson

The world always looks brighter from behind a smile.  ~Author Unknown

No matter how grouchy you're feeling,
You'll find the smile more or less healing.
It grows in a wreath
All around the front teeth -
Thus preserving the face from congealing.
~Anthony Euwer

Keep smiling - it makes people wonder what you've been up to.  ~Author Unknown

 Beauty is power; a smile is its sword.
-- Charles Reade

 A smile costs nothing but gives much.  It enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give.  It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever.  None is so rich or mighty that he cannot get along without it and none is so poor that he cannot be made rich by it.  Yet a smile cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away.  Some people are too tired to give you a smile.  Give them one of yours, as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give.  ~Author Unknown

Smiles are definitely contagious. I've made a habit of making eye contact and giving a smile to everyone I pass on the street. You never know when something so simple may make an enormous difference in someone's day. I know that I've been on the receiving end of this exchange often enough when I really needed it! I can also say with all honesty that when life gets you down and you feel like you just can't carry on one more step... lifting your face and smiling at the world can be the most important step towards healing you may ever take.

wishing you laughter, my friends