 I'm Adam Navas and I'm here with Liz Wade. Hello, Liz. Hi, Adam. Today, we're gonna be having a real conversation about the program all about the smile. If you haven't had a chance to see or listen to that program yet, you can hear it on YouTube. You can listen to it on our podcast. Or if you visit our website, you can read along with the program there. We recommend that you do that prior to this program, but if you haven't and you wanna listen to it and then go back, I guess that's okay too. Liz, before we dive into talking about the program, what is the program all about the smile about? Well, okay, so in this program, really, okay, I will level with you, Adam. I thought when we kind of looked through this program to have this conversation that this would be kind of like a program that I didn't really learn a lot from or that I, you know, I already knew all the stuff. And I was really surprised that there were a lot of things to talk about in this program that were really interesting. And so first of all, it talks about why people smile. And some of those things were really interesting to me or surprising. So we smile when we meet people. We smile maybe when we're uncomfortable, you know? And I thought to myself, oh, I do smile when I'm uncomfortable, right? Like if I'm in an awkward situation, I'm like, yeah, sorry. And then, but that is for a purpose to form some human connection so that people can understand me better and so that I can like communicate to them that I need help. And there was also a reason that people smile is to make them feel happier, which I also thought was very interesting. And then it talked about the ways that you can tell if someone is really smiling or if they are using a fake smile. So that was really interesting. And then finally, the program really talks about the meaning of smiles in different cultures. So, you know, maybe smiling in one culture isn't as popular or it sends a different message than if you smile in a different culture. And, you know, those things can be, yeah, just misinterpreted if you're smiling in one culture and then another. So really that just went through all the different things about a smile. And I, like I said, I learned a lot in this program. You know, I had a very similar experience in that when I, you hear a smile, you think, oh, this is, I know what a smile is. Yeah, I smile all the time. And then you read it and you're reading through all these different ways that a smile works. And it actually made me think of emojis because there's a smile emoji, right? Hey, it means happy. But there's also like subtle like nervous emojis, like trying to distill the different smile meanings into emojis is really kind of, it was a helpful way for me to think about the different ways people use smiles to communicate different things. You know, when you're sending a text and you want to be like, you want to make sure somebody knows it's a joke or you want to make sure that somebody knows that you're happy, like even though you're asking them a question, like which smile emoji do you choose? Right. And it isn't that the emojis- Or do you even add a smile emoji? Yeah. Well, and it's not that the emojis determine how we communicate. We need these emojis because they help us communicate. Right. But I think that the, I got really excited or not excited. See, again, I'm struggling for what is the word? What is the, it really made me think about the different people who are going to be listening to this program where they lived what a smile meant to them. And I would love to hear if you're watching this, if you live, if you'd say you smile a lot, you smile a little, do you live in a, go ahead. Yeah, and I was gonna say that stuff really changes from person to person, even within a culture. So I think that like probably people in the United States smile a lot, compared to maybe other cultures. But there are still people in the United States who maybe don't smile a lot. And some who smile even more. So yeah, I am really interested, like maybe if your culture is a smiling culture, but you are not a smiling person, like how does that make you feel? Well, and there's also places, I've known people who've come to the United States and they have found people to smile a lot, but they don't get to know people beyond that, what they call the surface level. So they're very friendly, hello, how are you? But if they really wanna go and like have a deep relationship, the smile isn't very deep. Yeah, well, and I could imagine if you were in that position and you were not used to a culture that smiled a lot, that you might be confused about what those smiling messages are sending, right? Like, oh, I see all these people smiling at me, what does that mean? Even if you don't think in your head, what is that person smiling at me for? It might be just under the surface, like, oh, I feel really uncomfortable here and I don't know why. You don't know me, why are you smiling at me? That's weird. Or even as a lady who has traveled before, sometimes I have been told in a country, I don't even know what country it was, but in some countries, you shouldn't smile at people on the street because it sends a message that you're not wanting to send. Like it maybe sends a message that you wanna be their girlfriend or it sends a message that you're inviting them to come talk to you. So in the United States, when I smile at a person on the street, everybody just usually smiles at each other. Just a quick little. Yeah, exactly, just a greeting, a smile greeting. But maybe if you go to a different culture, like I said, I've been told, don't just smile at anyone because it might be giving a message that you don't want to give. Yes. Yeah. Well, interestingly, I was in the store just yesterday, I think, buying some eggs. And I was wearing a mask. And someone who was working at the store was also wearing a mask. And we were doing that little polite thing, but all we had, we just had our eyebrows, so it was just like. Like that's all, it's just this little, we had to smile, not just because the program talks about smiling with your eyes, right? Like the genuine smile talks about your eyes. And people, a lot of people, at least in the United States over the last year where people have been wearing masks, have said, oh, I can't see people smile, I don't know. But actually, you can, your smile isn't just with your mouth, it's with your whole face. And I think that's an important, it was fun, we had to work really hard to smile, but it can be done, right? Yeah, you know, this, and to me, sometimes I'm taking a walk outside, have my mask on, because I'm heading somewhere, and I'll have some sunglasses on. So then, I always think like when I pass someone, I'm like, you know, hi, or even just a smile, like just a greeting smile. But then I'm like, oh, they can't see my eyes. So then like, what do I do? Then I just look super rude, just walking by people. You have to use your whole body. Yeah, exactly. You know, like use your hand. Hello! How do you smile? Yeah, jazz hands. And then they're like, oh, weird. You know, the other thing that's, oh, go ahead. Oh, go ahead, go ahead. No, please. No, I was gonna change the subject. So you sounded like you wanted to talk about something else here. No, I just, I was thinking about, we're talking about the differences between one country and another as far as smiling. And that reminded me of the program about apologizing. Do you remember that one about how different cultures, different countries apologize and say, I'm sorry for a variety of different situations that if you bump into someone while you're walking, you might say, I'm sorry. Other people wouldn't, you know, that's just life. There's lots of people around. So I think if you liked this program, you should definitely check out that program. I'm not sure exactly what the title is saying sorry. I think it's just called saying sorry. Yeah, so check out that program and let us know. Or the power of apology. Yeah, I don't know. I'm thinking. Let's try to, yeah. See, we're both smiling out of like, are we happy? Yeah, I don't know. Are we happy we can't remember the name of that program exactly? No, but we're like, eh. Like, good enough. I did want to talk about the why people smile part. Because I thought that was really interesting. You know, I don't really think about when I meet people if I smile, but I do. But then also, like I mentioned before, that sort of being uncomfortable and forming a connection, I thought that was really interesting. Like why, you know, instead of using words, it's just this really important, like just facial thing we do without even thinking of it. Yeah. And speaking of other programs, Adam. Yes. That's the face program, right? How your face is telling all your secrets. Yes. Now, what is that one called? The human face? No, it's not called that. Anyway, so yeah, all of those non-verbal sort of things that go along with your like, sorry. Yeah, the things you're not thinking about that you are. I don't know what to do. Yeah, and just that because we all smile. Yeah. And because we have those expressions that communicate things, that is sort of like a worldwide thing, I think. Yeah. I do think a lot of what we do with our face is we don't think about it. But I do think when we meet babies, Oh yeah. We are very into, like we exaggerate, we're like, Hey! Yeah. And we know those non-verbals because they don't have verbal skills, right? So that we do a lot of it with their tone of voice, but also with our faces and we might lower our tone and hi! You know, so I think that we do know in our heart what those big smiles and smiling with our eyes does. And we can use those. We can be intentional about how we use those. Yeah. Though it's sometimes not genuine. I mean, that's the hard line. But speaking of being, you used an interesting word there that I really wanted to pick up on. And that was intentional. Okay. And so I think actually my biggest takeaway from this program was about using a smile intentionally. And so when, like why people smile is to make people feel happier, but also to make yourself feel happier. So that was something super interesting to me in, you know, if you're feeling down or like I am, maybe you can hear in my voice, I am sick. I am so sick right now. Yeah, I feel bad, but... And yeah, I have a very bad cold and one of the ways to make yourself feel better, probably mentally, but you know, your mental state and also influence your physical state is to smile and you can feel better. So here I am, as they say in English, sick as a dog and I am smiling and I'm hoping and I feel it's making my mood better. So I thought if we are maybe like down in the dumps, there's another idiom for you. If we're feeling sad or down about things. And I have seen this in sort of like in apps that encourage gratitude to smile and that you can smile, even if you are feeling terrible and even if you are feeling sad and even if something bad happened, you can practice smiling and you just maybe go in front of a mirror and smile 10 times. See how that feels. It sounds weird. Do that a couple times a day. It's like a little exercise. Yeah, it is. It is just like exercise. You know you exercise your muscles to make your body better. Maybe you exercise your smiling to make your whole mental state feel better. Well Liz, whenever we get to do one of these, you make me smile. So I appreciate even though you're not feeling well, we can talk to our spotlight friends and I wanna say that if you haven't listened to this program all about the smile, make sure you go and do that. While you're there, you can subscribe to us. You can smile. You can smile. You will naturally smile. We hope we've made you smile, but make sure you subscribe to us on YouTube. Check out our website, follow us on social media. And we hope that you are having a good smiley day. We hope that until next time you listen, watch, practice and learn. Spotlight out.