How To Be Happy #5: Practice smiling
I was six when I first noticed that you could see people’s characters in their faces. Happy people had glowing faces. Bitter, cranky and worried people showed it in their eyes and the turn-down of their mouths.
Your face takes on your feelings. Over time, enough frowns will become permanent lines. But sometimes it can work the other way too. Your feelings can be set by your face.
Take a moment to find a place on your own. You don’t want anyone around to watch you while you do this – it’s a bit embarrassing. When you’re alone, put this book down and stand up straight. No slouching. Shoulders back and confident. Neck goes high and head is loose and relaxed. Take a deep breath in and out and then smile. Not a forced smile, but a genuine one. You know the difference from how it feels.
Stand there and smile for the count of ten whole seconds. Then stop smiling. Slouch and frown for ten seconds. Then stand straight and confident again and smile for another ten.
How did you feel?
Posture and facial expressions actually have an effect on how we feel inside. It’s crazy, but it works.
To think about
What’s your normal facial expression?
Have you ever stopped to think what you might look like in ten or twenty years, based on how you feel most of the time?
How do your friends look most of the time? Your family?
Can you think of a happy person whom you know, who has a glowing face? Write down their name and everything you know about them. They might be a person you can get to know and learn from.
Action
Today, do the standing tall and smiling exercise at five different points in the day. Write down how you feel after every time.
Try smiling at every person you see today, even the people you don’t like.
How does smiling at all kinds of people make you feel?
Want more on how to be happy? Check out the rest of Cecily Paterson's How To Be Happy blog series for more tips and advice.
Want more of Cecily's writing? You can grab a free copy of her novel, Invisible here.
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