The Power Of Smile

Okay,

Good morning to you all again.

So,

Before we start the meditation,

Rebecca came to me and said,

Bhante,

It is so empty today.

I was kind of thinking to myself,

Maybe they do not want to see me,

That's why.

So,

However,

Thank you for coming to see me.

So,

Today I have a question for you,

Before we start my talk.

Maybe this is subjective or maybe objective,

Maybe it depends on your perspective.

So,

What do you think,

What is the most beautiful five-letter word?

It is not love,

It has only four letters.

It is not money,

It is an expensive word,

So it has five letters.

So,

What do you think?

Peace?

Okay,

It's a good answer.

What was that?

Self?

It has four letters.

Yes,

I love cheese.

What else?

What is that?

Mercy?

Yes,

Many answers.

You can find many,

Many letters,

But it has five letters.

So,

That's why I said it is always about subjective,

Objective,

Perspective.

It's about how you think.

So,

What I think,

I can give you a hint,

Before I get the right answer.

I can see that five letters from you,

And also you can see that five letters from me.

What is that?

You can see now.

Smile.

It has five letters.

So,

Today I was thinking to talk about a smile.

We love a smile.

We do always.

So,

This is going to be my last talk on this year,

Friday,

Saturday.

Over the years,

This is my almost sixth year being in this temple.

Last six years being here,

I'm doing something that I really love to do every time.

Mondays,

Tuesdays,

Wednesdays,

Of course,

Saturdays,

Whenever we are having a big event here,

So I'm doing that.

So,

It was quite a new thing for me that I never done when I was in Sri Lanka.

So,

After I came here,

I saw the other monks,

They are doing that.

So,

In the beginning it was quite strange for me,

And now I love it.

So,

Whenever you are coming to the temple,

We,

All the monks,

Of course,

I'm there,

And I'm welcoming you.

I say,

Hey,

Good morning,

How are you?

And you also pray to me.

Hey,

Bhante,

How are you?

It's nice to see you.

So,

Last six years I was doing that.

So,

You know that.

So,

Sometimes I miss it.

So,

Last two months I wasn't here,

I missed that.

So,

It is always joyful and so much happy to do that,

Whenever you come and welcoming you.

So,

If I'm not doing that,

If I'm in a bad mood,

So,

If I do not say anything,

So,

You don't feel welcome.

So,

Therefore,

Last six years I'm doing that.

So,

It was quite interesting because I'm seeing different people.

So,

When I see you,

Also it is depending on the different people.

When I see some people,

So,

This is not all about judgment or discrimination,

No judging.

So,

There are some new people,

When they come to the temple,

I say,

Hey,

Good morning,

How are you?

Welcome to the temple.

So,

Their replies also same,

Good morning,

Happy to be here.

So,

When I see some good friends,

I'm always,

Hey,

How are you?

The voice is different.

They also,

Hey,

Bhante,

It's happy to see you.

So,

When I see some of my really,

Really good friends,

I'm like,

Hey,

Dude,

Good morning,

How are you?

They're like,

Did you say dude?

I said,

Yeah,

Of course.

Can monks say that?

I said,

Yes,

I just said it to you.

So,

It is always very different,

So,

I love doing that.

So,

Therefore,

There's a new word I studied while I was preparing for this talk,

Frowning.

Am I right?

Frowning.

Yeah,

Frowning,

F-r-o-w-i-n-g,

Frowning.

So,

If I'm frowning at you when I'm coming to here,

You're not coming back.

So,

Therefore,

It is very interesting.

Also,

When I'm seeing you are coming to the temple,

There are some people,

They do not say anything.

They just bow and they come and sit.

Some people just smile and come and sit.

The most is different.

So,

I can see how you are,

How is your mood is.

So,

Some people,

They don't say this,

Come and sit,

Then I can imagine how they are doing.

So,

Of course,

You can say that whenever you see some people,

Some friends,

Whenever you go to different places.

Therefore,

What I was doing there,

It is very interesting.

I like it,

I love it.

So,

It feels welcome and also I feel so much happy when I do that.

So,

The other thing is,

I know most of your names,

But being in Sri Lanka for two months,

I forgot many people's names.

Sorry if I ask your name again.

So,

Then today I was thinking to talk about the idea of a smile because it is very powerful.

It is very important to keep a smile every day.

So,

I found some nice sayings about a smile I would love to share with you.

There's a few actually.

There's one,

Because of your smile,

You make your life beautiful.

Is that true?

The other thing is,

Beauty is power,

A smile is a sword.

A smile is free therapy.

Of course,

We know that.

Some people are stingy,

They don't smile.

The other thing is,

Life is like a mirror.

You smile at it,

And it smiles back at you.

So,

When you go to the bathroom early in the morning,

If you are pointing at your mirror,

The same thing will come to you.

The next one is,

Be happy.

It really annoys negative people.

They don't like to see you are happy.

They don't like to see you are smiling.

Am I right?

Yeah?

They won't do that,

See that.

Next one is,

A smile is an inexpensive way to change your looks.

So,

If you are smiling,

When you are smiling,

It doesn't matter what you are wearing.

It doesn't matter if you are rich or poor.

It doesn't matter if you are pretty or ugly.

It completely can change your everything.

So,

Therefore,

A smile is a free therapy.

A smile can change your life.

And also,

It can bring enormous difference to each individual person.

So,

Maybe you remember,

If you are on social media,

Last year,

We posted a picture on Facebook with all the monks with beautiful smiles.

Do you remember that picture?

We were kind of laughing here,

Yes.

So,

We had a lot of comments.

People were commenting on that picture,

How they feel when they see the picture.

Imagine,

When you think about food,

You are getting hungry.

Do not worry about the dinner tonight.

We have a feast,

So I am inviting you all.

So,

Also,

When you think about somebody that you do not like to see,

It's not me,

You are getting angry,

You are getting upset.

And also,

If you think about a smile,

You are smiling.

You feel better.

You feel better.

There is one other thing that I really like,

What I found.

I was smiling yesterday,

I am smiling today,

And I will smile tomorrow.

Simply because life is too short to cry for anything.

So,

Therefore,

A smile is very powerful.

We can see when people are smiling,

It is authentic or not.

Sometimes people are smiling,

And they have that smile on their face,

But there is something behind.

Maybe they need something.

When they ask something,

We can feel if it is authentic or not.

We can see it is fake.

So,

Therefore,

Do not be stingy to smile at people.

So,

Last six years,

Being in this temple and talking to you,

Seeing you every day,

Each event,

Also learning and studying and going to different places and yoga studios and churches and going to college.

So,

I have seen many people.

And also,

I have been studying many,

Watching and reading and listening to the talks,

Listening to other bhante's.

There are a few things that I found that keep you smiling every moment,

That can bring a smile to your face to others.

I have been talking about these ideas the last few years at the temple.

So,

There is one thing that I was really believing that is really helping me.

It is about positive thinking.

It can bring a smile to you every moment.

So,

There are people that I know,

Whenever they see something,

When they are happening something around them,

They are just,

Right away,

They are thinking negative,

The negative thinking.

So,

It can ruin your life,

It can ruin your day.

So,

Therefore,

Firstly,

This is always I am doing.

When I see something,

I try to see the positive side,

The positive way.

It can heal me.

It is very helpful.

That's one thing that I was doing the last six years being in this temple to help me and also to help you in many different ways.

So,

Life is not fun all the time.

There are problems come to us and I remember myself and Todd,

We were in Arlington Heights in a meditation session.

There was an old woman.

She usually comes to the meditation and she said,

I was waiting for the meditation for 45 minutes.

I was having pain all over my body but I decided to stay for meditation.

Then after the meditation,

She said,

I feel so relaxed,

So relieved,

So I feel better.

Do you remember,

Todd?

So,

She was telling how it felt.

She said,

I needed this,

My mental wellness.

So,

Therefore,

See,

Imagine,

It can change your looks many different ways.

Therefore,

The positive thinking,

One of the good ones that I was thinking all the time whenever something was happening around me.

That's the first one.

The second one,

When we are thinking negative,

Negative thinking,

We are always creating stories,

Dramas and movies and everything around us.

So,

This happened because of this,

This,

This,

This.

So,

Then we are creating stories.

You do that all the time,

Huh?

It can ruin your day.

You can smile.

If you smile at someone,

It's fake.

They can see.

Therefore,

This year,

We are almost at the end of this year.

We are planning to start a new year.

If you are doing that,

Try to avoid that.

Try to find many other ways to skip that.

Stop creating stories,

Dramas in your head.

The third one,

Acceptance.

I was talking about this many,

Many times.

It changed my life,

This word.

Acceptance is very powerful.

So,

Whatever is going to come to your life,

Be ready to accept it.

No matter what,

It could be a good one or it could be a nasty and terrible one.

Therefore,

Think about the idea of acceptance.

The third one,

I'm always doing this.

So,

When I'm with my friends,

I'm talking too much.

So,

I'm having some trouble sometimes because I can't control my mouth.

So,

I'm always trying to think about speech mindfully,

What I'm talking to people.

So,

It is quite an interesting thing that I'm thinking nowadays.

Because,

Whenever we say something,

We can take it back.

Therefore,

Watch your mouth.

It's the other thing.

Also,

Be mindful of what you are doing.

Each moment.

The last thing,

This is a very important one,

To understand the idea of contentment.

So,

When we are leading meditation,

Instead of using happy,

I'm always using the word contentment.

It has a deeper meaning.

So,

We are ready to understand the idea of contentment.

It has a deeper meaning.

It has a true meaning.

So,

When you are doing,

You can find this meaning,

This word,

To your life in many different ways.

So,

Therefore,

There are so many I can share with you that I was thinking,

Practicing the last few years to keep myself happy.

So,

Therefore,

The smile is a free therapy.

So,

I was talking to Kassapa,

And he was telling me,

So my vocabulary is not enough to explain certain things,

Because when you are smiling,

There are so many things happening on our face.

So,

Also,

When we are smiling,

The brain is creating what is called a happy home on us.

So,

Then it just naturally comes to you and you are just smiling.

So,

If you want to smile,

The naturally in an authentic way,

So it is very important to have a peaceful and relaxed mind.

Maybe after you are leaving the temple,

You have that.

Maybe when you go to your home,

You are not.

So,

Because what you are doing here,

It can completely affect your mind.

So,

Therefore,

Again,

The smile is a free therapy.

And please think about it,

And try to keep you happy all the time.

The next year,

Try to understand,

Try to practice all the things that I was sharing with you today.

So,

Therefore,

Today I want to try this topic.

I was telling somebody,

This is my first time doing this topic,

So I want to add more.

The last few days,

I was listening to different teachers,

And I was trying to find some good ideas to share with you.

There are so many articles you can also find to read about this word,

The power of smile.

And also,

In the end,

I am inviting you to repeat this saying after me,

And I will say,

Then you can repeat after me.

I was smiling yesterday.

I am smiling today.

And I will smile tomorrow.

Simply,

Because life is too short to cry for anything.

To cry for anything.

Please think about it.

Stay happy.

Thanks so much for coming.

I hope you learned something.