A note on the title of my blog

Thailand is often colloquially known as the Land of Smiles. This is actually no surprise to me, based on common knowledge that Buddhists are generally a very happy people and Thailand is 95% Buddhist. In my Buddhism class Junior year (the one that first piqued my interest in traveling to Buddhist nations) my professor would often put up photos of Buddhist Gurus. Every time, she exclaimed at how happy these teachers were. It was true, rarely have I seen a more genuine or joyous grin. Their eyes twinkle with a knowledge that seems to teasingly say, “I know the secrets of life and this is what true happiness feels like. Come on in.”

I do think that Buddhism certainly has a connection to the smileyness of Thailand’s culture, however I’ve recently read that Thai people smile for a variety of reasons, from “I’m sorry I just gave you an accidental little love bump with my moped” to the smile that accompanies any fake-it-to-make-it attitude. Of course, upon brief reflection these reasons for smiling do have Buddhist underpinnings, but the point here is that not everyone in Thailand is happy-go lucky (derrr), yet they seem to have cultivated a happy outlook, despite times when the road gets rocky. For instance, the Buddhist guru Thich Nhat Hahn once said, “Because of your smile, you make life more beautiful”.

This attitude that says “smile no matter what” is a healthy one to maintain; when we were younger my Dad would always tell us that a quick smile was the key to life. Those who smile readily and often will be at an advantage. That is a lesson that has never left me, though some days I am better at heeding it than others. I’m sure there will be struggles when I’m in Thailand, so one of the best things I can remember to do is smile. Grin and bear it (or grin and bare it, depending on the situation… (kidding!)), fake it to make it, or just find reason to smile in all the beauty and happiness around me—at the end of the day, it’s only perspective that gets in our way.

So I’ll end this blog post with an apt quote— “there are hundreds of languages in this world, but a smile speaks them all.”

Welcome, Alyssa, to the Land of Smiles.