HOW TO… SMILE by Yoko Ono
exclusively for Huffington Post.
When John, my husband, passed away, I was feeling down, so down, that it showed on my face when I looked at myself in the mirror.
“This is bad,” I thought.
I could make myself ill, or if not, make myself a very irritable person, which would be not nice, especially for Sean, my son.
I have to get out of this.
So I systematically smiled into the mirror every morning.
My smile was forced and looked terrible.
But as I kept smiling for some time, my smile became a natural smile.
It not only became a smile with my mouth and my eyes, but my shoulders, my tummy, and finally, with my whole body!
I thought “Okay, I’ve won the battle!”
That’s when I realised how important it is for all of us to smile – not for anybody else, but for ourselves and our health.
That was all.
Soon I forgot about it as an impossible job.
Now the computer age has come in full swing.
And I know that we can use this situation to make the whole world smile!
Please smile for your health and joy.
If all of us do this, our planet will be a heaven, created by us.
I love you!
Yoko
Yoko Ono Lennon
20 June 2012
for The Huffington Post
#smilesfilm was exhibited at the Serpentine Gallery 21 June – 9 September 2012 in Yoko’s show To The Light.
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