What thoughts make you smile?
One of the main ideas behind living elation is to remember that you have the free will choice to choose how you feel and we can curate far more moments of happiness,
Of contentment,
Of calm,
Whatever feeling state you need by choice.
In this episode of Ask Dorothy,
I wanted to focus on one sweet,
Often overlooked but very important aspect of human physiology,
The smile.
Smiling is a universal human expression that we all use to express our emotions,
To be friendly,
To engage positively with others and there's a lot of science behind smiling that I wanted to share with you in hopes that it will become for you one beautiful tool and easy way of uplifting your mood naturally.
The muscles involved in smiling are controlled by different parts of the brain than those used for frowning or other negative facial expressions.
We actually have far greater control of our smiles than any other facial expression,
Which also makes you wonder how smiling easily lends itself to feeling instinctive and so easy and it certainly makes smiling unique and more powerful than any other form of communication.
Of course,
The effects of a smile you share with another often results in a smile quite instinctively in return.
Smiles are so powerful that just seeing another person's smile can cause your brain to release feel-good hormones and of course this causes you to smile as well.
When that happens and when you smile,
More hormones are released and you get a boost to your mood because of it.
A genuine smile shared with another person elicits almost instinctively a reciprocation of that smile and your smile helps the other person to feel better about themselves and their situation even for just a few moments.
Smiling also affects how others see us.
People typically associate smiling with positive emotions like happiness and contentment and kindness and certainly smiles help us to be friendly and approachable and liked.
Let's dive in a little bit more to the science of smiling and what happens when you smile.
A smile makes you feel good and it does so because it ignites chemical reactions in the brain that release serotonin,
Dopamine,
And endorphins.
Endorphins act as a natural pain reliever.
They also help elevate our mood.
Endorphins are these feel-good hormones that truly help us to feel more positive.
As a hormone and neurotransmitter,
Dopamine increases our feelings of happiness and of course dopamine is responsible for motivating you to continue doing rewarding behaviours such as smiling.
Serotonin is responsible for regulating your mood and certainly it helps to reduce stress.
Having all these hormones running through your body lifts your mood and also it helps you to relax.
It's amazing how the body is so beautifully naturally equipped to allow us to live more of the time in this happy,
Content,
Peaceful,
Positive state of being and that's why I wanted to share with you all of these sweet benefits of smiling because this is something you can do for yourself and it's amazing as you watch the progression of how you allow yourself to smile more,
How you naturally practice what I call full face smiling which is allowing your eyes to smile,
Your cheeks to smile,
All along with your facial muscles.
There's an amazing feedback loop of positive vibes that allow you to feel happy and that in turn helps you to smile more.
In essence this means that you smile because you feel good,
You feel positive,
You feel happy and when you feel happy you smile more.
Smiles are so powerful,
Just seeing another person smile can cause your brain to release these feel-good hormones and of course this causes you to smile as well and then when that happens more hormones are released and you get even more of a boost to your mood because of it.
It's a wonderful positive feedback loop to be stuck in if you will and I have to say there are so many reasons that you can find to smile.
Simple practices of being grateful in this present moment,
Being aware of what glimmers,
Those micro moments of awareness that you appreciate what is in your environment,
What is in your view that allow you to feel good and all the thoughts that you can practice holding positive thoughts,
Thoughts of appreciation,
More gratitude,
Intentional thoughts,
Powerful thoughts including I am mantras,
Affirmations.
We literally can reprogram the brain to think the way we want to think and feel.
In addition to the feel-good chemicals in the brain that are released when you smile,
Smiling can help the nervous system and supply more oxygen to the brain.
Smiling also engages more sensors in the brain which can create a cycle of joy,
We talked about that.
Smiling can also reduce stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline.
Smiling can reduce overall blood pressure.
It can make you more optimistic and motivated.
It certainly can help you to remember happy moments and memories more easily and vividly.
And did you know smiling can make you more creative and efficient at work?
Certainly a happier person,
A person that is flooding their system with positive hormones,
Endorphins,
Serotonin and the pleasure hormone dopamine can inspire creativity,
Can help you to engage with your creative self.
And of course smiling helps us to feel good and look good and we become more not only friendly but we become more attractive to others.
When it's a genuine smile,
That full face smile,
We know from research and experiments testing the facial feedback theory that smiling does boost happiness even just a little and sometimes all you need is a little.
A recent meta study that reviewed around 50 years of data including the results of nearly 300 experiments testing the facial feedback theory found that smiling can boost happiness.
I think the bigger takeaway here is how much better you can feel intrinsically and based on the science of what happens in the brain when you smile.
And I want to leave you with this little homework idea of practicing smiling,
Genuine smiling,
More.
And notice the feeling of a genuine smile that lights up your face,
That whole face smile and also the faces of others to whom you smile.
There's a simple experiment that you may want to try,
Smiling in the mirror for about five seconds in the morning and notice how that helps you to feel.
Remember these are practices that help you to improve your well-being,
Alleviate depression and any other low mood state.
But more importantly the practice of smiling,
Work those muscles so that smiles become easier,
They become more authentic,
More frequent for you in your own moments alone and also when you're in the presence of others.
Thank you.
I'm smiling.
Can you feel it?
I hope you enjoyed this Ask Dorothy episode.
Join me again next right here.
I look forward to it.
Sending you great happiness and a big smile.
This is Dorothy Zanori Juno.
Namaste.
