Hack Your Smile
“Fake it til you make it”
Georgia LA
A short-term fix for when you're feeling grumpy and you want to cheer up.
Get a pencil or a chopstick and put it in your mouth. Between the teeth and not between the lips so that it forces a smile. Leave it there and keep reading.
Your brain is constantly monitoring what’s happening in your body. It analyzes things like muscle tension, posture, heart rate, breathing, and, yes, facial expressions, to judge how you are feeling. To put it simply, this little hack helps your brain to remember feeling happy.
Be careful not to put the pencil between your lips, as that will cause a frown, and we don't need to practise those.
Don't stop there. Practice putting your entire body into a more relaxed, confident and supported position. And then, when you find yourself stressed out, anxious or in pain try and embody that attitude.
Feeling happier yet? No? Well it's probably cheered everyone else up seeing you sitting there with a pencil in your mouth.
You can take it out now...
Photo: Merely, NL
