Frowns are much harder to make than smiles, but somehow we still end up making more of them.

There’s just not enough positivity in the world. People need to smile more, including myself. I’m not talking about the type of smile that you wear on your face, but the one that you wear in your heart and mind. In itself, positivity works as a motivator and gives meaning to seemingly meaningless things. It helps us push past undesirable people and circumstances.

This past summer I started tagging all of my Instagram photos with “#imstillsmiling.” It originally started off as a joke when I wore the wrong shoes the first week to my internship in San Francisco, my feet became badly blistered and on the same day I was twenty minutes late to work when BART was held up. I was easier to be frustrated than be positive. I felt as if I’d tipped over a set of dominos each riddled with small misfortune… but I couldn’t help laughing and smiling. I should have known to wear different shoes the morning of, since they were too snug and should have prepared to leave earlier on BART in case of a delay. My stubbornness is usually my Achilles’ heel.

While it’s true that laughing is a coping mechanism, I think that if you can’t smile at your mistakes, it’s harder to correct them and improve yourself in the future. Smiling at them is about picking up, carrying on and pushing through adversity, whether small or large. It’s realizing that life still remains beautiful and that mistakes do define us as people, but become negative or positive depending on our reactions. That’s what defines us.

Since that first post, I’ve continued using “#imstillsmiling” on each of my photos. This phrase continually reminds that perfection is mere illusion and imperfection reminds us that as humans, we live to grow and create. Mistakes need to be welcomed and appreciated as lessons. Only after that can we start to be a bit more realistic with ourselves.

The 16th century Persian poet Rumi describes it best in the poem called “Guest House.”

Guest House

By: Rumi

A joy, a depression, a meanness,

some momentary awareness comes

as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!

Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,

who violently sweep your house

empty of its furniture,

still, treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out

for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice.

meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.

Be grateful for whatever comes.

because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond.

He’s got the idea. But do we?