…10 smiles…

Don’t you just love people who laugh straight from their heart?

 © 2011 M. Gutic

Have you ever thought about how many smiles you have? I actually have, and here are some of mine:

No. 1: I have one very discreet smile when I’m unsecure whether to greet somebody or not. It’s a smile where only the corners of my mouth move up slightly, it might be so discrete that I myself feel it more than the other person actually sees it.

No. 2:  I think most of us have got a “I heard you were talking but got caught up in my own thoughts so I’ll just give you a neutral, non interpretable smile and hope you don’t figure me out-smile.” I know I have it, and need it!

No. 3: Then I have the ”when I see a little kid-smile” that is switched on automatically by the presence of a small child. This is one that is beyond my control.

No. 4: My “shy smile” tends to activate when I get compliments. It’s completely unconscious and I only know of it because people keep commenting on it and have pointed it out to me in photos! It’s one where I tilt my head forwards & to the side as I look down and smile discretely, just enough so my dimples show.

No. 5: My obvious “fake-laugh” is a simple, short “haha” with a small upward movement with my shoulders followed by a rapid return to the ongoing conversation.

No. 6: Then we have the despised ”this is making me nervous-smile”, the size of which depends of the level of anxiety. It’s mostly close to unnoticeable but when i’m really uncomfortable it can turn into a loud, almost unstoppable laugh, so when possible I will try to make sure it’s following a desperate emergency joke that I pull just before in order to be able to explain the inevitable, upcoming laugh. 

No. 7: When I do my honest “this is really funny-laugh” my head tilts backwards, my eyes disappear,  my gum shows and frankly I can hardly recognize myself!

No. 8: I also have this prankish smile where I bite the tip of my tounge as I smile from ear to ear and pull away from the person I just pulled a prank on.

No. 9: Obviously there’s also the “Look! A camera!-smile.”

And my favourite one, No. 10, is probably my “walking down the street, laughing at my own thoughts-smile” that makes me look delusional yet happy.

How many smiles do you have?