Smiles!

A facial expression characterized by an upward curving of the corners of the mouth and indicating pleasure, amusement, or derision.

Ok, folks, that's all we need to know. Right? Well, no, there are so many things to know about smiles.

Smiling is universal. All cultures do it. Some do it more, and some might want to eliminate it, but the smile is also a cultural event and it isn't done or judged the same everywhere.

All cultures don't smile the same, nor do they read smiles in the same way.

Smiles are interpreted differently by Americans and Japanese

There is no right or wrong here, but the person who knows the smile culture of a citizen of another country, has an advantage. Be yourself, but know what the other person is thinking about what you do. Contradictory? Well, yes, but you can do it!

As wonderful as smiles are, they can't always be trusted. And pictures of smiles certainly can't always be trusted.

First let me say that I was and am a Barack Obama supporter. That, folks, is why you see the two pictures here instead of one of Obama grimacing or smirking and McCain with a charming smile.

During the campaign we saw good of both, usually used by supporters or in their own ads. We also saw scary, creepy pictures of smiles of both of them always used by people who didn't like them and in their own adds.

So smiles are important, but never trust a still picture (as much as I love them) and consider the source. Don't be manipulated by someone who posts a still picture.

Smiling faces sometimes pretend to be your friend
Smiling faces show no traces of the evil that lurks within
Smiling faces, smiling faces sometimes
They don't tell the truth uh
Smiling faces, smiling faces
Tell lies and I got proof

The truth is in the eyes
Cause the eyes don't lie, amen
Remember a smile is just
A frown turned upside down
My friend let me tell you
Smiling faces, smiling faces sometimes
They don't tell the truth, uh
Smiling faces, smiling faces
Tell lies and I got proof
Beware, beware of the handshake
That hides the snake
I'm telling you beware
Beware of the pat on the back
It just might hold you back
Jealousy (jealousy)
Misery (misery)
Envy

I tell you, you can't see behind smiling faces
Smiling faces sometimes they don't tell the truth
Smiling faces, smiling faces
Tell lies and I got proof

Smiling faces, smiling faces sometimes
They don't tell the truth
Smiling faces, smiling faces
Tell lies and I got proof
(Smiling faces, smiling faces sometimes)
(Smiling faces, smiling faces sometimes)
I'm telling you beware, beware of the handshake
That hides the snake
Listen to me now, beware
Beware of that pat on the back
It just might hold you back
Smiling faces, smiling faces sometimes
They don't tell the truth
Smiling faces, smiling faces
Tell lies and I got proof

Your enemy won't do you no harm
Cause you'll know where he's coming from
Don't let the handshake and the smile fool ya
Take my advice I'm only try' to school ya

I have had times in my life when I wanted to be miserable. Sometimes it is just for an hour, and other times, like my adolescence it lasted for weeks. Nothing made me madder than when my Dad cajoled me out of it by trying to make me smile, or worse yet, laugh. Why did I dislike his doing that so much? Because it worked!!! And getting me in a better mood was a dastardly thing to do!

Thus the famous curmudgeons knew what they were doing. If they suddenly started smiling, they wouldn't be able to be so miserable and thus would soon lose their careers! My oh, my.

Technology and Mona Lisa

"(CNN) -- Scientists analyzed the portrait of the Mona Lisa, a woman with famously mixed emotions, hoping to unlock her smile. They applied emotion recognition software that measures a person's mood by examining features such as the curve of the lips and the crinkles around the eyes."

We Americans love our teeth! We spend billions each year, and more and more of this is on cosmetic dentistry. Yes, we do it not for out health, or comfort in chewing, but for our smiles.

Which is more important to you, health or a beautiful smile?

Not very easily, according to this, Facial Expressions .

"Chances are, you're not very good at faking a smile. You can raise the corners of your lips into a neat grin-as one does for the camera-and you can probably tighten your eyelids a bit to enhance the effect. But unless you're amused, excited, grateful, relieved, or just plain happy, you probably can't pull your cheeks up and your eyebrows down to form a smile that looks genuine. No more than one in 10 people can voluntarily control the outer orbicularis oculi, the muscles surrounding the eye sockets, with that much precision.

Paul Ekman has spent 40 years watching thousands of people try. An emeritus professor of psychology at the University of California at San Francisco, Ekman is a world authority on facial expressions. He is also extraordinarily skilled at faking them. In the course of cataloging more than 10,000 human expressions, he has taught himself to flex each of his 43 facial muscles individually. He can even wiggle his ears one at a time. "If only they had an Olympic event for facial athletes," he says."

So how come so many of us have been fooled by a false smile? Years of studying psychology tells me that it is some underlying desire to be fooled. It may just be an occasional thing, wanting to believe a salesman because we really like that red convertible, or a more chronic condition based on psychological issues.

Enjoy and believe smiles, just use your head also.