Smile Yourself Happy
Posted on May 04, 2014 by Dr Dionne Mahaffey, One of Thousands of Entrepreneurship Coaches on Noomii.
According to Dr. Mahaffey, deliberate happiness is within reach by simply smiling more.
There’s usually enough on our plates that make smiling without adequate reason seem a little absurd. But time and again, research has proven otherwise. From simple personal experiments carried out by individuals to psychologists examining the benefits of a smile in various groups, the consensus is unanimous: even a fake smile can soon turn into a real one.
Smiling is a natural act; its benefits are plenty if you can manage to keep a smile on your face even when you are down. You’ll soon find yourself feeling positive and in better control of any situation.
Spreading happiness
Smiling can be quiet contagious. If you are around an enthusiastic, grinning toddler or a friend who just got good news, you are sure to be joining in with a smile soon enough. It works the other way too: if you see someone who needs a pick-me-up, a smile can do the job within a few seconds. In essence, you are spreading joy to those around you when you are smiling.
Bringing down your stress levels
There are a good many ways to keep yourself healthy and stress free, but the easiest thing to do would be to smile. Stress and a harried routine are deemed the most common cause for several lifestyle ailments. When you smile though, your brain receives a signal that you are happy, which in turn regulates your breathing, improves your metabolism and controls blood sugar levels too. These repercussions of a smile can leave you feeling de-stressed and feeling much better.
Fake smiles can help too
Agreed, there are times when you simply must deal with grief or disappointment and just vent to make yourself feel better. Suppressing your emotions cannot make you happy. But this cannot become a practice either. What it does is make it easier for you to fall prey to situations and make you gripe as opposed to take action.
So what do you do when you are faced with an impossible task or when you are surrounded by people who make you uncomfortable? Smile. It slowly but surely changes your outlook on the situation you are in and allows you to engage positively even with people you are not comfortable with. For instance, if you are in sales or if you are a customer relationship professional, you are likely to come across irate or rude customers. On particularly difficult days, you’ll notice that when you try and squeeze out a fake smile, it soon helps with your customer’s mood and your own too.
Smiling makes you more optimistic
Ever feel like you are being taken for granted at home or that your boss cannot really gauge your potential? These are probably the moments when you also end up believing that your life or career is as best as it is ever going to be. But what happens when a friend thumps you on the shoulder and says, “Smile, buddy, it is going to get better.” You may start out with a halfhearted smile for your friend’s sake, but in a bit you will be in complete agreement.
So that’s what smiling can accomplish: make you feel happier and anticipate the good things that are in store for you.
