A Sunny Disposition

Let the sun shine in
Face it with a grin
Smilers never lose
And frowners never win
Open up your heart and let the sun shine in.

Recently this childhood song ear-wormed its way into my head. I was thinking about why this nerve plexus in the center of each of us is called the solar plexus. The official explanation of course is that the nerves that radiate out resemble the rays of the sun. Except of course, the sun doesn’t look like our child drawings of the sun. It’s a burning, massive ball of nuclear explosions. All the other plexuses? Plexi? have names related to their body parts - lumbar, brachial, etc.

According to ancient Egyptian mythology, the heart is directly connected to the sun, the representative of the sun in our bodies. They called the liver the “sun of the east”, which they believed absorbed and processed toxins as well as toxic emotions like hate, jealousy, contempt, greed and anxiety so that the light of the inner sun, the heart, could shine more purely.

Modern science agrees: the solar plexus connects the liver and heart via nerves that also communicate to all the abdominal organs. So even though the solar plexus got its name in the 1700’s, there seems to be an intuitive link to ancient wisdom and our expression of emotions.

So what does smiling have to do with any of it? Try walking around with a frown for a few minutes. Notice your thoughts. Your frown communicates to your gut, leading to a rounded posture. And that can lead to depression, and then to heart disease. Can a smile then improve posture and wellbeing? What if instead of righteous indignation, irritation and general grumpiness, we smiled at each other? Would the world feel sunnier?

In a recent podcast of Diary of a CEO, Steven Bartlett interviewed Vanessa Van Edwards, a behavioral researcher and body language expert who talked about the different impact of a smiling face vs what she called a “resting bothered face” (which in some circles has a less pleasant name). She explained that simply being aware of your face at rest, and allowing your lips to not turn down can impact your mood, conversation and relationships.

So smile, and if children’s songs don’t inspire you, maybe some of you are old enough to remember that wonderful song from the musical Hair, that then became a pop hit “Let the Sun Shine In!” (and oh yes, it WAS the dawning of the Age of Aquarius!