Mood Shifter: A New Technique To Make You Smile

Here’s a super fun and science-backed hack to instantly boost your mood! This mood-shifting technique is all about sending a sneaky signal to your brain to feel happy. Simply hold a pen between your teeth horizontally without letting your lips touch it. By doing this, you're tricking your brain into thinking you're smiling, even if you’re not quite feeling it at the moment. It may sound quirky, but this little trick works wonders when you’re feeling a bit blah. Plus, it’s so easy you can do it anytime—at work, while studying, or even when you’re just lounging around.

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Transcript

Hi, I'm Suzy at Unplugged Meditation, And this is a meditation for mood shifting. Now you're going to need either a pen, A pencil, Or your glasses to be able to experience this. Mood shifting is about changing the position of your face to actually send a signal to your brain to feel happy or feel sad. You're going to feel it for yourself. It's going to look a little strange, But I'm going to show you how to do it, And then when I guide you through the experience, We'll do it together. So I'm going to use this pen. And when I place this pen between my teeth, Notice that I'm smiling. And when I place this pen between my lips, The opposite occurs. I'm frowning and I'm feeling a little bit down. You're going to feel it for yourself. So let's begin by getting comfortable, Grabbing your pen, Pencil, Or glasses, And closing our eyes. Taking a moment right now to notice how you're feeling. Just really feel the feels, No matter what that is. This is your meditation. And now taking a moment to grab your pen, Pencil, Or glasses, And just place it between your teeth. This will change your face so that you're smiling without even making an effort. And just taking a moment to see how that feels in your body. And now just pulling the pen, Pencil, Or glasses out of your mouth, And notice if you're still smiling. And I know it can feel a little silly, But that's okay. Because when it works, It just doesn't matter. Now we're going to take that pen, Pencil, Or glasses and place them between our lips. Notice how that feels. When you're ready, You can remove it and just kind of sit with that. Do you notice a difference in the way you feel? And of course, We like to end this on a happy note, So we're going to place that pen, Pencil, Or glasses back between our teeth and just sit with it for one minute. And removing the pen, Pencil, Or glasses, Just holding onto it and sitting in stillness and silence for another minute. And now taking a long, Slow, Deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth, Letting it go, Bringing a little bit of movement into the body. And when you're ready, You can open your eyes. And I hope you enjoy this very silly exercise.