Let a smile be your umbrella
Personal note
On Monday, I glanced at the clock, realized I was late for an appointment, and rushed off to my meeting. The clock was, unfortunately, the only one in the house I had neglected to change to the new time – unless you count the one in the car, which I also had not yet changed. So I arrived very early, but minus the documents I was expected to bring with me.
Remembering to breathe deeply and not take it too seriously, I went back to my office, where I made a phone call that netted me two new, important contacts. Elated, I entered the information into my computer, where I hit a key that sent them off into the Graveyard of Lost Computer Documents. Hanging my head in embarrassment (not easy to do over the phone) I called my informant a second time to get the information.
Clearly, this wasn’t the day I had wanted when I woke up.
Realizing I was in danger of becoming grumpy, and worse yet, of retrieving and reviewing all of the Bad Days in My Life History to convince me that I was right, Life Is Really Pretty Dreary, I reminded myself that there are simple devices you can use to restore good humor and balance to life.
Let a smile be your umbrella…
Here’s how to lift the gloom when you’re suffering from the “grumpies”, a discontented feeling that arises from a series of a series of small, unpleasant episodes that you are in danger of inflating into a really bad mood:
Sit or lie down; take several of those deep belly breaths.
Close your eyes and imagine what a smile feels like – the little lift at the corners of your mouth, the softening of your jaw muscles, the relaxation of your cheeks.
Next, reach far back into your memory for an event where someone gave you support, love, or praise, or where you excelled at something you had attempted. Slowly scroll forward through your memory seeking only such positive episodes, resolutely resisting reminiscing about old resentments or hurts.
As you think about these pleasant memories, think about how grateful you are, and smile at that thought. Let the smile be the response to your good memories, not a forced smile. This genuine smile was called a Duchenne smile by facial expression researcher Paul Ekman, Ph.D, after 19th Century French physician and researcher into muscles, Guillaume Duchenne.
Psychologist Dachter Keltner, in Born To Be Good, says that the Duchenne smile activates the reward, or pleasure, center in the brain, by flooding it with dopamine. The same center responds similarly to chocolate, love, orgasm, alcohol, and even cocaine.
Why not practice smiling frequently? People who are stressed out can calm themselves, slow their heartbeat, and reduce stress hormones in their blood by producing a genuine Duchenne smile, as described by Barbara Frederickson, Ph.D., and Robert Levinson, Ph.D. in a 1998 article in Cognition and Emotion.
Research by the British Dental Health Foundation suggested that smiling can provide the same stimulation as eating chocolate bars.
What a great way to feel good without blowing your budget or your diet!
Not a bad umbrella, for any season!
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