When my grandson was three years old, I moved into my daughter’s house and lived there for a year while she was deployed to Afghanistan. One thing I noticed is the three year-old had a smile all the time. This little kid was one happy little guy.

He even smiled most of the time when he was in trouble. His smile and happiness rarely got him out of trouble, but he just kept smiling anyway. I learned a lot from this three year-old – stop and smile every once in awhile.

I notice when I smile I seem to just feel better about things. I could have been very stressed and worried about my daughter in the situation she was in, but when the three year-old walked in with that smile my day got better. His smile was contagious. Even though his mom was gone, and he was sad and missing her, his smile always came through. This little kid had discovered early in his life something researchers are now validating.

Research bears out this information. Continue reading