Trick Yourself Happy

mind and body mindfulness Sep 02, 2022

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.

-Thich Nhat Hanh

 

Your facial expressions don’t just reflect how you feel, but they contribute to how you feel too.

Research from the University of South Australia in 2020 confirms this!

The act of smiling (even if you’re faking it) tricks your mind into happiness. It’s all about the messages being sent rom the facial muscles to the brain.

Researchers made half of the participants in the study hold a pen between their teeth, forcing their facial muscles to replicate the movement of a smile. A comparison group held no pen between their teeth during the experiment.

Both groups were shown images of people with a range of facial expressions (from frowns to smiles) and a series of body movements (from “sad walking” videos to “happy walking” videos).

Under the “pen-in-the-teeth” condition, the forced...

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