How to Find Happiness In a Smile!

We’ve all read the blogs meme’s etc they say smile it will make you happy. For years I couldn’t quite figure this one out. Yes I did find some joy when I smiled and it helped get me through minor unpleasant situations, but it didn’t make me any happier of a person. I had given little thought to this concept for many years. Until recently, I have finally figured out how to do it properly. Becoming happier by smiling doesn’t happen with one smile. It doesn’t happen with one day of smiles. It needs to become a routine. A couple months ago I decided that I would purposefully think about things that make me happy and find simple humour in my day everywhere I went. These positive thoughts brought on an authentic semi smile. So everywhere I went, the grocery store, dentist, walking down the street I was smiling. I felt good. I started to notice a shift. People would greet me with a smile and approach me with kind gestures and compliments. That was just the beginning. Now there’s always moments in our life when we are startled or shifted into a negative energy type situation. Typically this automatically puts our bodies into flight or fight mode. This causes tension between people. You May be in a great mood and then you come around the corner and bump into someone and they immediately give you a glare and keep walking and it makes everyone involved feel a little awkward and the situation brings a little negativity to everyone involved. After a couple months of practicing smiling, this exact situation happened to me. I came around a corner and bumped into a man who seemed to be in a hurry, but because I had been practicing for months, even though I bumped into him I still had my smile on my face. I was expecting the usual outcome, but instead I was greeted with a smile and I said hello and asked how his day was going, after a quick chat we went on our way both smiling. What in my experience was typically a negative situation had now shifted and was a positive interaction. This was my aha moment. That I had actually become happy by smiling. Just like anything else it takes practice. Look people in the eye and smile, say hello. It was definitely awkward at first, likely because that was the energy I was putting out. Now I’m almost always greeted with a smile back and so many great positive interactions everyday. Even on the worst days when everything is going wrong, all these positive moments in my day are making me a happier person. So I encourage you to try it out.