Find happiness by…smiling

Find happiness by…smiling

As we all know (or should know), life's far from perfect. 

Whether we like it or not there will be obstacles to overcome, challenges to deal with and adversity to tackle. But this doesn't mean we can't still live a good life and enjoy positive emotions…including happiness!

In another great article from Psychology Today we learn that you can smile your way out of stress! What's know as the "facial feedback" theory posits that if you force your face to smile your brain things you're happy and so…you actually experience the positive emotion of happiness! 

Magic : ) 

The article (by Kelly McGonigal) begins like this…

Put a pencil between your lips in just the right way, and you’ll feel happier—though you won’t know why. The result is so reliable, I used this trick on students as a foolproof demo when I taught intro to psychology.

This effect demonstrates the “facial feedback” theory of emotion—but you can think of it as “fake it til you make it.” The idea is simple: your brain is constantly monitoring what’s happening in your body. It analyzes things like muscle tension, posture, heart rate, breathing, and, yes, facial expressions, to judge how you are feeling.

Put yourself in a happier position, and you can boost your mood. Practice a depressed face and slumped posture, and watch the gloom set in. The pencil trick works because it forces your face to mimic a genuine smile, recruiting just the muscles of the mouth, cheeks, and eyes that come to life when you are happy.

If you're interested, you can read more HERE

Whether you read more or not…I encourage you all to smile more and to enjoy the wonderful benefits of stress reduction and happiness!