Dear boys,

I learned something looking at the photographs of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. He is this big guy who was a wrestler with the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and he transited to the big screen. And now he is a movie star.

There is this phrase called the ‘million dollar smile’ and I think he has it. I know a there are other people out there who are millionaire and billionaires and they also have such a qualities in their smile. But The Rock’s smile is particularly appealing to me. His smile is big, infectious, wide and beaming. It is unabashedly loud and says ‘Hey, I smile, therefore I am.‘

A smile will helps us connect with people.

That’s something I realised, smiling is not an intrinsic quality I have, it actually needs a bit of practice to get it right. And being Asian (that’s a lousy excuse by the way), showing our emotions on our face is apparently not in our DNA. So I took the opportunity to practice my smile, when I’m doing something I enjoy, my TRX bout.

Its a bit of a vain for me, because I like to take photographs, but I don’t quite like my photographs to be taken. Its a strange psychology, I guess I’m just pretending to be humble and I try to shy away from the limelight. And guess what, the limelight shy away from you too.

The emotions is quite a bit of a mess to explain as I hadn’t really sort out my feelings as I write this, but I need to write it down first, before I sort it out. Truth is, I’m not gunning for the limelight just for a sake of it, what I meant is that in order for us to be successful, we need to behave in a certain way that allows us to attract success.

The Art of Smiling

A smile will helps us connect with people. A learned and mastered smile will do more than that, understanding the psychology of smiling will beam happiness into a otherwise dull room, a spontaneous smile will open hearts, and build bridges. A smile will always attract a smile, you rarely can look sad and feel sad in the presence of a smiling person. Therefore, a smile attracts happiness, popularity, joy, laughter, open heart, a spirited company and of course, success in all areas of life.

A smile is a universal language, regardless if you’re Asian, look at the way Andy Lau smile, he has it too, in his own way. The Rock hailed from Hawaii, you can almost see the Hawaii sun, sand and the sea in his big, wide smile. Andy Lau on the other hand, smiles in his own accomplished, successful way. It is confident, not loud, open and warm people up slowly. He smiles in a way that draws you to him, The Rock smiles in a way that almost bear hugs you. Either way, their smile is the expression of a successful individual.

A Smiling Learner

So for me, I’m still learning, and I think after a workout, with all the good chemicals released in my body, I’d try to learn to smile, and I can honestly say I’m getting better at it. Even at this very moment, thinking of S-M-I-L-E brings a grin to my face. It wasn’t like that in the past. When I was taking my wedding photos with your mum, I have a 1-2-3 smile. which means after the count of 3, my smile basically when stiff.

So let me work on it. There are some stupid and funny things I did while I do my TRX routine, and it never fails to crack me up, and after that, I smile. And when I look at the photo, and I go ‘eeeeeeeewe!’ The I know I did a Stiff Smile, not a Spontaneous Smile. It’s still work in progress, and I think as I learn and keep fit with my TRX training, it is also a good time for me to progress and get better with my smile training. I think my smile hadn’t hit the ‘million dollar’ mark, but I’m sure I’ll get there.

Remember, a smile cost nothing, but it is the most precious crown you can wear on your head.