The Secret of Smile

I've learned something over the last couple of weeks. I have apparently been walking around with a scowl on my face for the last, um, 15 years or so. I've seriously gotten out of the habit of smiling.
I like to work out problems in my head and I do a lot of fretting and wondering in there as well. It's as if I'm trapped in there and then I let it show all over my face. It ain't pretty.
After internalizing a couple of Relief Society lessons, I have come to feel that I'm displeasing the Lord walking around looking like, well, an unhappy, ungrateful person. See following:
15 And inasmuch as ye do these things (in this reference, fasting and prayer) with thanksgiving, with cheerful hearts and countenances, not with much laughter, for this is sin, but with a glad heart and a cheerful countenance—16 Verily I say, that inasmuch as ye do this, the fulness of the earth is yours..." (Doctrine and Covenants Section 59:14 - 16) Ah, so worshiping or simply walking down the halls at church on a Fast Sunday, I should be smiling and then i get blessings!
and
13 A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
(Old Testament Proverbs 15:13) Or conversely, in my experiment (see below), the cheerful countenance maketh a merry heart.
and
"...Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick?..." (Old Testament Nehemiah 2:2)

Anyway, I decided that I was simply going to smile more. I even put a reminder question on the screen of my cell phone to help me gage the cheeriness of my countenance from time to time and change as needed.
Starting at home:
Now it's easy to offer a shy smile to a stranger, but smiling at my kids seemed nearly foreign (I smile with them all the time, but at them for no reason other than 'just because'? Unheard of!), sadly. Well, I started and long story short:
WOW!
Ok, that's too short, but this has been an awesome two weeks of just looking them right in the eye and giving them a big old grin. JUST BECAUSE! Even better, it's so easy to follow that smile with an 'I love you' or other positive comment. I'm totally having fun with this. My patience has increased. My love for those sweet little ones has increased. My willingness and joy in their service has increased. Simply put, changing my outward appearance has taken me away from my waaay too busy brain and made me the happier person I'm trying to appear to be. This has been a great thing for me!
I've also increased my personal prayers and when the Nephites prayed, this was written:

"25 And it came to pass that Jesus blessed them as they did pray unto him; and his countenance did smile upon them, and the light of his countenance did shine upon them..."(Book of Mormon 3 Nephi 19:25)

Let's hear it for smiles!