“Our smile will bring happiness to us and to those around us. Even if we spend a lot of money on gifts for everyone in our family, nothing we buy could give them as much happiness as the gift of our awareness, our smile. And this precious gift costs nothing. At the end of a retreat in California, a friend wrote this poem:

I have lost my smile,
but don’t worry.
The dandelion has it.

If you have lost your smile and yet are still capable of seeing that a dandelion is keeping it for you, the situation is not too bad. You still have enough mindfulness to see that the smile is there.

You only need to breathe consciously one or two times and you will recover your smile. The dandelion is one member of your community of friends. It is there, quite faithful, keeping your smile for you.”

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

So, if you don’t feel like smiling, it’s okay. I’m sunburned, a little jet-lagged, headachey and a bit grumpy myself. But I also know that a bad mood doesn’t mean my smile is gone. The dandelion is just holding on to it for me until I shake off the grump and am ready to go get it.

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