If you’ve spent much time living in another culture, you start to notice how some things are given much more, or much less, importance in society.

In Japan there is a real fetish for smiles. You’ll see the word ‘smile’ about in many different places, such as insurance or the names of meals for example.

This is all well and good, of course you want to see others be happy and a smile is one way in which you can do that, but smiles are also surface-level (a common theme in Japan I’ve noticed).

People can see you for who you are at any given moment, but we know that what they don’t see is what really matters. They don’t see all the context, they don’t see all the emotion, they don’t see all the struggles.

But why should they?

Well, to truly understand you as a human being that much is necessary, but even if they were to see all that context, that emotion, that struggle, they haven’t actually lived it themselves so all it would be is but interpretation.

You see, all that is now in the past. It’s no longer a part of you unless you let it be. It’s possible to live in the now, and the best way to do that?

A smile on your face.