This is the statement from my son in response to my asking him to be a bit more pleasant this weekend. There wasn’t any arguing, just not a lot of smiles … almost none. He was walking around with the stone-coldest of faces on Saturday and when I called him on it he told me I didn’t know what I was talking about. Yea, right. It was the teenage I-am-cranky-for-no-reason attitude. I can spot it a mile away.
Recently I read an article in Scientific America on smiling (yes, Dad – just because I went to law school to avoid your tough science world, doesn’t mean I can’t read some soft-science articles (smile)). It discussed a slew of recent studies of Botox recipients and others, and suggested that our “emotions are reinforced—perhaps even driven—by their corresponding facial expressions.” Hmmm.
This study found that people whose ability to frown is compromised by cosmetic Botox injections, are happier, on average, than people who can frown (clearly a sales pitch for Botox!). Interestingly, the Botox recipients reported feeling happier and less anxious in general. More importantly, they did not report feeling any more attractive, suggesting that the emotional effects were not driven by a psychological boost that came from the treatment.
“It would appear that the way we feel emotions isn’t just restricted to our brain—there are parts of our bodies that help and reinforce the feelings we’re having,” said Michael Lewis, a co-author of the study. “It’s like a feedback loop.” Apparently, the concept works the opposite way, too— people who frown during an unpleasant procedure report feeling more pain than those who do not …“It’s possible that people may feel less pain if they’re unable to express it.”
This isn’t a blog on those crazy “studies” if find (and believe me, I can find them!). This is really about the simple notion of smiling. The more we smile, the happier we feel. I don’t need a study to prove that concept to me. Plus, the more I frown (the worse I look) but the more stressed out I feel. I really believe that the more negativity we are exposed to and emote, the more negative we feel and become … Ok, admittedly not scientific, but I’m going with it!
Truthfully, no one seems to know why our facial expressions influence our emotions as they seem to. However, all we need to know is that if we smile, we are more likely to feel happy. Seems easy to me!
Enjoy your time smiling today!
theyearof50 