Smiling...on the Inside

There I was...standing in line at the prestigious Ford Agency in NYC, waiting to pick up my check.  I looked a tad out of place with the bevvy of stick-like chiseled faced stars of the runway.  It was in the 80s and super-model had just been coined as a phrase.  I was not one of those.  My division was new and called Today's Woman.   Our group was housed on the third floor of the historic red-doored brownstone agency and consisted of the over-forty models who were faces behind hair coloring products and senior vitamins, the specialty hand and foot models, and the Plus division of which I was one of the pioneers. Size 14 and up, we seemed very different from the Super-model set or the human clothes hangers of the runway.  Still we stood in the line just as they to pick up our paychecks from modeling shape-wear and Just My Size panty-hose.

Behind me in line on this day was the lovely Kim Alexis, and just ahead was Carol Alt.  Stunning yet, completely natural since no real New York model ever wore make-up when she wasn't working.  I learned from the real pros that wearing heavy make-up on a daily basis was aging to the skin.  To this day, I practice the - moisturize often, don't blow dry unless you have to, scrunchy your hair back with oil on the lengths, and always have a water bottle in your bag - habits of the women who knew how to accentuate the positives and protect the assets.  No one ever wore make-up "on the street" because we were told early on by the booking staff that the only women wearing make-up on the street were call girls.  That made me cringe because every visit to NYC prior to learning this sage advice, I had always dressed up and worn lots of make-up.  No wonder I had gotten odd looks from the natives as I rode up the elevator to my hotel rooms in the past.  As lovely as these women...and men (Ted Danson was actually a Ford Model at the time) were, they didn't smile much.  I don't know if they reserved smiles for the cameras and paid jobs, or whether they were just hungry.  The thin girls didn't get to eat much.

That's when Christie Brinkley walked in.  The door opened and the sunshine flooded in, and I'm sure angels somewhere began to sing the Mary Tyler Moore theme.  Christie bounced in with her back pack on one shoulder, golden locks bouncing, looking as if she had just come from the beach or a cheer-leading event.  She spoke to everyone and they all looked like they'd been touched by a magic wand.  She carried joy into the room and I was quite frankly awestruck.  She didn't look emaciated or sullen like many of the other models.  Christie Brinkley was the picture of health and self-care.  She emanated light.  Her smile was so infectious it made you giggle.  All-American girl next door clean shined from her very core.  Christie was different.  She seemed unsinkable.  She looked right into your eyes and said hello.  Fearless.  Endearing.  Fresh.  An unforgettable impression.

Move to present-day and the cover of People magazine, and Christie Brinkley at...60.  60!  And, quite frankly looks almost identical to the 21 year old Christie.  Wow.  How did she do that????  It can't be a ton of plastic surgery because she looks natural and there is such a grace to her face, that one can only attribute this kind of aging to clean living and good healthy lifestyle.  She has not had a perfect life, two very painful public divorces and empty nest is quite eminent with all her children almost grown.  How could I institute a lifestyle in my 50s that could affect my 60s in a positive way?  Any tips, Christie?

Actually she does have a really great list.  You can find the whole list here. But to paraphrase, she has a mainly vegetarian lifestyle (healthy foods), spends a lot of time fighting for powerful causes like saving elephants (great passion)...and she smiles(#1 on her aging gracefully list BTW).  On her facebook page she says "The mere act of putting your lips in that position tells your body to release chemicals that instantly make you feel better," in an article in Prevention Magazine.

What if you aren't in a smiling place in your life?  Depression can really hurt and life's little destructions can pull your smile right off your face.  Today, I went into the bathroom and looked in the mirror.  I practiced "putting my lips in that position".  I smiled with nothing to smile about.  And, oddly enough do you know what happened?  My body began to feel better.  Peace began to seep into my spirit. Immediately I imagined back to that moment the golden beams of light preceding Christie into that room where I stood, and the smile she shared warmed my heart.  Smiles do that, even years after the fact.  Even in the darkness, there is an inside smile that you can call upon and even if it's only a physical exercise at first, a spiritual miracle will begin to take place.

Today's exercise:  Go to the mirror and practice the art of smiling.  Smile at yourself.  You probably need a smile as much as I did today.  Let the miracle of your inner smile become the blessing of your outer smile to the world around you.  Experience what happens when you smile at others.  Just give it a moment.  Sometimes...they smile back.

Have a beautiful blessed day.