lol – My Little Breathing Space – I write for the few, not the many. The few that are left out!

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Smiling is a great way to make yourself stand out while helping your body to function better. Smile to improve your health, your stress level, and your attractiveness. Smiling is just one fun way to live longer read about the others and try as many as you can.

Smiling Makes Us Attractive

We are drawn to people who smile. There is an attraction factor. We want to know a smiling person and figure out what is so good. Frowns, scowls and grimaces all push people away — but a smile draws them in (avoid these smile aging habits to keep your smile looking great).

Smiling Changes Our Mood

Next time you are feeling down, try putting on a smile. There’s a good chance your mood will change for the better. Smiling can trick the body into helping you change your mood.

Smiling Is Contagious

When someone is smiling they lighten up the room, change the moods of others, and make things happier. A smiling person brings happiness with them. Smile lots and you will draw people to you.

Smiling Relieves Stress

Stress can really show up in our faces. Smiling helps to prevent us from looking tired, worn down, and overwhelmed. When you are stressed, take time to put on a smile. The stress should be reduced and you’ll be better able to take action.

Smiling Boosts Your Immune System

Smiling helps the immune system to work better. When you smile, immune function improves possibly because you are more relaxed. Prevent the flu and colds by smiling.

Smiling Lowers Your Blood Pressure

When you smile, there is a measurable reduction in your blood pressure. Give it a try if you have a blood pressure monitor at home. Sit for a few minutes, take a reading. Then smile for a minute and take another reading while still smiling. Do you notice a difference?

Smiling Releases Endorphins, Natural Pain Killers and Serotonin

Studies have shown that smiling releases endorphins, natural pain killers, and serotonin. Together these three make us feel good. Smiling is a natural drug.

Smiling Lifts the Face and Makes You Look Younger

The muscles we use to smile lift the face, making a person appear younger. Don’t go for a face lift, just try smiling your way through the day — you’ll look younger and feel better.

Smiling Makes You Seem Successful

Smiling people appear more confident, are more likely to be promoted, and more likely to be approached. Put on a smile at meetings and appointments and people will react to you differently.

Smiling Helps You Stay Positive

Try this test: Smile. Now try to think of something negative without losing the smile. It’s hard. When we smile our body is sending the rest of us a message that “Life is Good!” Stay away from depression, stress and worry by smiling.

Smilling is a Sunnah

‘Abdullah ibnul-Harith ibn Hazm, may Allaah be pleased with him, said: “I never saw anyone smile more than the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam.” [At-Tirmidhi]

The Loss of Conversation

Sister Fazila Bux, 1st Ethical CT/

May 21, 2012

We live in an age where we are all ‘connected’. The phenomenon of the World Wide Web, manifested in Facebook, social networking sites, phone apps, and so forth seem to offer us endless and ever easier ways of keeping in constant touch with each other. In spite of this, many sociologists are finding our quality and quantity of conversation is actually poorer than a few years ago.

Why the paradox? Typing a smiley emoticon in a text message is certainly not the same as witnessing a real facial expression. Teens today are so engrossed in their online worlds, that they are simply not picking up the art of verbal conversation, which was a rite of passage even a mere decade ago. Even in workplaces, staff are less focused in meetings, reflexively checking phones and emails.

It is worth considering what the art of language represents, for we may be unwittingly degrading one of our most important qualities. Human beings are defined as “al-haywan al-natiq ” meaning we are the ‘talking animal’. The word for ‘talking’ in Arabic shares the same root as the word for ‘logic’ given speech is intrinsically linked with intellect, and this ability to externalise our intellect by meaningful sounds is the key factor differentiating us from animals.

Speech, and its corollary, the written word, therefore are gifts bestowed upon us by our Creator. The mightiest of gifts, the Quran, whose wisdom and depth transcend the limits of human intellect, was transmitted orally. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was known for his eloquence and brevity of speech: the ability to say a few words strung in a manner that conveyed vast meaning.

Limiting the art of conversation to only its online forms is not only depriving us of the irreplaceable warmth and depth of a face-to-face conversation, but is also depriving us of the ability to contemplate and reflect.

As Muslims we believe we can draw closer to God through pondering on His signs, both His word and His creation. To be less able to recognise these signs is therefore calamitous. Indeed the Qur’an states: “In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day, there are signs for people of intelligence” (Qur’an 3:190) .

Constantly being online makes it difficult to concentrate on anything, never mind contemplate.

Conversation is an art, and effective speech is a Prophetic trait to aspire towards.

In today’s world, properly conversing with our loved ones, and reflecting on life is something which no longer happens automatically but which needs proactive planning and effort. The sooner we realise this, the sooner we put a stop to a subtle degradation of our humanity.

Umar bin Al-Khattab (Allah be pleased with him), the second caliph and Companion of the Prophet (peace be upon him) once said that if it were not for three pleasures, he would not find any joy in life.

One of these three pleasures was “sitting in the company of men who like to pick good topics for conversation just as people like to pick good dates from a tree.”