How to Have a Good Day: Harness the Power of Behavioral Science to Transform Your Working Life pdfdrive com

7. DON’T FORGET TO SMILE
Talking of scowling, let’s talk about facial expressions. Start with a familiar
causal link: when you’re happy, you smile. Not everyone does it exactly the
same way, but smiling is a universal human expression of pleasure. What’s

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surprising is that the direction of causation appears to work in reverse, too: when
you smile, you’re happy—or, at least, happier. And that seems to be the case
even when it’s not a genuine smile. When we force ourselves to smile, our brain
takes that cue to mean “Ah, I’m happy”—thus boosting our mood for real.
Researchers have been experimenting with the surprising mood-enhancing
power of fake smiles for some years. Back in the 1970s, an enterprising
psychologist named James D. Laird put electrodes on the faces of some willing
volunteers, to cause small spasms in their muscles while they watched a
cartoon.
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In one group, the muscles being stimulated were those involved in
smiling, so they were being involuntarily induced to smile. This group reported
finding the cartoon funnier than those with electrodes placed elsewhere on their
faces. (Pretty amazing that they were willing to find anything funny, I’d say, in
the circumstances.) Other researchers have since tricked volunteers into fake
smiling by less invasive means, such as asking them to try writing with a pen
held between their teeth, and have found the same encouraging effects.
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One
research team found that smiling can help you weather unpleasant moments, too.
Their fake smilers felt less aggravated when asked to shove their hands into
unpleasantly cold water, plus their heart rates also returned more quickly to
normal after the icy shock.
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The two-way street between smiling and positive mood is known as 
facial
feedback.
I find it an exceptionally useful mind-body loop to know about,
because it’s so quick and easy to build into whatever I’m doing. Just before
giving speeches and running workshops, you’ll see me put down my papers and
start grinning at people. (They don’t seem to mind.)
So, try it for yourself—when your mental or emotional energy is running low,
crack a smile. The more realistic the better, but if in doubt, give your face a
workout and your mood should follow.