Charles Darwin is well known for his theory of evolution, however few people are familiar with his facial feedback response theory. He basically states that smiling is much more than the consequence of an emotion, smiling actually intensifies an emotion.
When you refrain yourself from smiling you are not fully enjoying that emotion because you are dampening its impact. You can put the power of smiling to test the next time you find yourself in a situation that you don't enjoy.
Let's say you are at a party and that for some reason you don't feel very joyful, try to force yourself to smile. Careful not to go overboard though :)
Soon after forcing yourself to smile you will find out that you start to feel better. Here's 6 reasons to smile more everyday.
- Smiling stimulates our brain rewards mechanism better than chocolate (1 smile equals 2000 bars of chocolate pleasure boost)
- Smiling can make you healthier (it reduces the level of stress inducing hormones and increase the level of mood enhancing hormones like endorphin; it also reduces blood pressure)
- Smiling makes you look good in the eyes of others (smiling makes you look more competent because you are putting out a confident vibe)
- Smiling can make others happy because is contagious
- Smiling makes you more attractive
- Smiling can get you hired
sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facial_feedback_hypothesis#cite_note-Darwin1872-1)
http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/wellness_articles.asp?id=1529
https://giphy.com/gifs/joker-pSGQLwn6IjcQg