Smiling can make you happier, even if you fake it

"Frown and you frown alone, but smile and the whole world smiles with you."

"If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. If we really know how to live, what better way to start the day than with a smile? Our smile affirms our awareness and determination to live in peace and joy. The source of a true smile is an awakened mind." - Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace Is Every Step : The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life (1992)

A recent study demonstrated that our facial expression and posture triggered our related emotions. Hence, if you smile, lift your chin, and stand upright, you’ll feel happy and confident. If you frown, shrug, or slump, you’ll feel sad or angry. (source : "Emotional Consciousness" by PhD Lisa Feldman Barrett)

Putting your smile muscles to work during times of stress changes your outlook for a couple of reasons. First, the brain interprets this muscle movement to mean that you’re happy or contented. Even holding a pencil horizontally between your teeth is enough to approximate a smile, as far as your brain is concerned.

Second, your mood and perceptions of neutral events grow more positive simply from “acting” happy. Happy behavior isn’t likely to erase the trauma of a crisis, but it will encourage you to view mundane events from a more generous perspective. An upbeat posture and expression primes your brain to give others the benefit of the doubt or to see the “lighter side.”

Besides these advantages, the sheer absurdity of smiling in moments of duress breaks the problem-centered mindset of anxiety and anger. When you take yourself less seriously, you can be a little gentler with everyone else, too.

Try it out today and find out how much of an immediate physical difference smiling can cheer you up.

Source:Faking it: Can smiling make you happier?"