An incredible piece of information that can have an instant impact on your well being: A #smile can improve your mood through the physiological effect it has on the brain. Just the act of smiling, be it genuine or not, releases happy vibes inside of you.
I used to get annoyed when I was told to ‘put a smile on my face’ as I thought 'why bother? it won't help'. But as it turns out they were right! If I had smiled a little more I may have felt better.
"Each time you smile you throw a little feel-good party in your brain. The act of smiling activates neural messaging that benefits your #health and #happiness" Sarah Stevenson
How does smiling effect your brain?
Smiling releases the feel good neurotransmitters dopamine, endorphins and serotonin. These neurotransmitters work to relax your body, lower heart rate and lower blood pressure. In other words smiling can physically help your body deal with stress.
Serotonin is a well know mood lifter, making a smile an organic anti-depressant (with none of the negative effects of prescribed drugs). On top of all this, smile released endorphins act as natural pain relievers.
Studies have also shown that these smile induced benefits are triggered even when the smile is not genuine. This is called the 'facial feedback hypothesis' making the phrase ‘grin and bear it’ wise words. See here and here
How to use this information
1 – Try to use this short meditation by Tara Brach – it’s 20 minutes long and has instructions on smiling while meditating – it always makes me feel better
2 – If you are not accustomed to mediation or feel you don’t have the time you can still take time to mindfully smile while doing daily tasks. When you have a few minutes waiting time for the bus, or perhaps when washing the dishes; actively put a smile on your face. Mindfully turn up the corners of your mouth and think about that smile turning up the corners of your eyes also. It can make me feel instantly happier and doesn’t take up any time in my day
3 - Regularly take the time to watch, listen or read something that makes you smile or laugh. Even if you only have 2 minutes you can always find something short on youtube to bring a smile to your face!
4 - Spend time with people that make you smile.
5 - In a stressful situation try the ‘grin and bear it’ technique – but this time you know the science behind the words which will help motivate that grin. This is probably the hardest of the exercises and personally feels the least genuine. However I find it can help to some degree depending on the intensity of the situation.
Try them for yourself and see
Bonus smiles
"Smile and the whole world smiles with you" Stanley Gordon West
In addition other studies such as found here have shown that smiling is contagious. It is very hard for a person not to smile back when you smile at them, unles they are making a strong effort not to. So just by smiling you can have a positive effect on another persons physiology too. Amazing right?! So smile at people through your day and know that you are brightening up the world around you