The 3 Benefits Of Smiles

In this talk, we explore the positive benefits that smiling can have in our lives. We also look at the research study on smiling by N. Coles, J. Larsen and H. Lench entitled "A meta-analysis of the facial feedback literature: Effects of facial feedback on emotional experience are small and variable," published in Psychological Bulletin, 2019.

Transcript

Welcome to the Happiness Podcast.

I'm Dr.

Robert Puff.

Greeting people with a smile.

I think it's one of my favorite things that I like to do.

When I'm out and about and don't know people,

I usually will look them in the face and smile.

As you probably can imagine,

I get all types of responses.

Many people just look at me.

Many people look away.

Many people don't even notice that I'm smiling at them.

But a lot of people smile back.

And I like that.

And if it's a young child,

I may work a little hard air at it to get a smile out of them.

Because I know they're not going to create a story about me smiling at them.

They're just going to see if I can get them to smile.

And often I can.

Sometimes I'm surprised by how much people don't look at each other.

Or when I smile at people,

Sometimes they don't even notice.

And sometimes people have told me,

You really shouldn't smile at people in this big city.

This big city is a harsh place and it could be misinterpreted.

But you know,

I decided in life that I'm going to smile at people.

And the beautiful thing that I found is,

When I do,

I often get beautiful smiles back.

It really keeps my heart in a happy place.

And I really enjoy smiling at people.

And I enjoy getting their smiles back.

Now here's a chicken and egg question.

Am I happy so I smile?

Or does my smile make my heart happy?

It's a good question.

And that's what we're going to talk about today.

Because a study recently came out talking about smiling.

It was done by researchers at the University of Tennessee and Texas A&M.

And it was reported in the psychological bulletin in 2019.

Well here's what they did.

There have been a lot of studies,

Believe it or not,

On smiling and happiness.

So these psychologists combined all the data from 138 studies with more than 11,

000 participants.

And they found that facial expressions,

Like smiling,

Can have a small impact on our feelings.

In other words,

Smiling can make us happier.

If we think about it,

It really makes sense.

When we smile,

It's usually because we're in a good mood and things are going well or we're just happy about something.

But what about when we're not in a good mood?

Perhaps smiling could help us get out of that mood.

I remember once I was at a grocery store just purchasing some items.

And there was a woman walking and she did not have a smile on her face.

And my smile had no impact on her.

But when we got to the checkout line,

She was in front of me and there was a man in front of her.

And he had a little child on his arms.

And that child was very young.

And she,

This child,

Was looking back at this lady who was not very happy.

And this child just kept smiling at her.

And guess what?

She broke out into a huge smile and grin.

And you could tell that whatever was going on in her life at that moment,

It was better.

So now I want to talk about the three parts of happiness and smiling.

I think smiling can impact us in three ways.

The first way is we don't always know how our hearts are really doing.

I mean,

I think we really are capable of fooling ourselves.

We may feel happy or think we're happy.

But if we're not smiling,

We're probably not as happy as we think we are.

So if people say,

Why do you have a frown on your face?

And we didn't even know we did,

We might want to reflect and say,

Oh,

I wonder why I'm not happy.

What's going on?

Maybe something's bothering me.

Or if people are telling us,

Why do you smile so much?

We may think,

Oh,

Maybe the stuff I'm learning on the Happiness Podcast is working.

And I am becoming a happier person.

So it's almost like an indication of how is my heart doing?

I think if we find that there's a smile on our face more often than not,

Then perhaps we're on the right path and doing things to make our lives better.

It's just a natural response to like laughing,

Laughing.

We laugh because we're happy.

I think we smile because our hearts are happy.

So check in with people,

People that you trust that are kind and loving and ask them,

Do I smile a lot?

Do you find me to be someone who has a smile on their face often or do I not?

And if they say,

No,

I don't see a smile on your face very often,

Then we can ask ourselves,

Oh,

Perhaps it's time for me to work on that and get my heart in a place where I do want to smile,

Where the things that I'm doing and particularly the things that I'm thinking make my heart a happy place because we are affected by what we are exposed to both externally and particularly internally.

I mean,

Again,

If we're in a relationship that is often abusive or harsh things are said,

It's not going to put a smile on our face.

But the reverse is true.

If we're exposing ourselves to beautiful things like being in nature,

Friends that are loving,

Supportive people and doing things that we're passionate about,

We probably will find that our hearts are happier and in a better place.

And because of that,

We smile more.

So perhaps just use a smile as an indicator of how your heart is doing and ask yourself,

Do I smile much?

Because with age,

What will happen is I think if we do smile more with time,

Our body will reflect that and our wrinkles will even show.

Is it a happy face or is it an unhappy face?

And again,

It's not the point of judging it.

We just say,

Huh,

I wonder if I could change that a bit by really practicing smiling more because perhaps I wasn't even aware that my heart isn't that happy.

So that's number one,

Using our smile to indicate how our hearts are doing.

Well,

The second way our smiles can be helpful for us is to actually make our hearts happier.

If all these studies are correct and that smiling may reflect a happier heart,

Then perhaps if we begin to smile more,

Our hearts will become happier.

So again,

It's that chicken and egg thing.

We don't know which came first,

But if we practice smiling throughout the day,

Not necessarily at people,

But just smiling and being happy about our lives,

We may find that our hearts become happier.

I think the practice of smiling throughout the day and asking,

Is there things I could smile about,

Things that my heart could be happy about?

I often say in this podcast,

There's always something beautiful to be with.

So what we can ask ourselves is,

What puts a smile on my face?

And then choose to do these things a lot more often or be around these people that help me be happier in my heart or making choices that allow my heart to shine.

A lot of our struggles in our life come from our thoughts.

So ask ourselves,

What am I pondering?

What am I worrying about?

Is there a way to me to let that go and live well in the present moment and find those beautiful things to be with where everyone else may not notice them,

But I notice them.

I notice the clouds in the sky.

I notice the birds singing in the background.

I notice the little flowers,

The little things in life that are truly beautiful or great things that are beautiful.

Like if we love a certain type of music that makes us smile,

Then that should be something that we have on sometimes.

If there's things that we like to watch that put a smile on our face,

Then these are things we should do.

For example,

I don't know if you saw it,

But a recent movie put out by Disney called Christopher Robin came out.

It's a very good movie and I really recommend it.

But I would challenge you to watch this beautiful movie and not see both tears come to your eyes and smiles come to your heart.

It's a beautiful movie and I think when we make choices that do that to us,

That cause us to be happy,

Then we're going to find it attractive and we're going to do more of it.

And we're going to find that our hearts and our faces are going to reflect that.

So smiling,

Even when we're not in the best of moods,

Can be a really good way to get us there,

To get us to feeling better.

A lot of the smiles that appear on our face come from the internal thoughts that we're having.

So we do need to pay attention to our worries,

Our fears,

And find tools which are here on the Happiness Podcast to work through them,

To let them go,

And to live well in the present moment.

In the present moment,

There's nothing wrong and there's always something beautiful to be with.

So when we live well now,

We will find that there's a lot of happiness in our hearts.

The third thing we can do is smile at others.

I think this can be a really beautiful gift we can give to the world.

And you'd be surprised how many people really never smile,

Particularly in big cities where there's so much activity.

And smiles can be taken as,

I'm trying to sell you something,

Or I'm trying to hit on you.

And that's true.

People do that.

A man may smile at a lot of women,

Hoping that one of them may someday go on a date with him.

Or someone else may smile at you.

And the second you smile back,

They have a product they want to sell you.

But I think the majority of people that you smile at will appreciate it,

And they will like it.

And when you get a smile from another person,

You may find that sometimes it's just that,

A smile.

So ask ourselves,

Could I perhaps help make the world a better place by smiling more and just greeting people with my happy heart?

I think a lot of people may struggle in life,

And knowing through a smile that someone out there cares for them,

Is glad to see them,

Can make their day better.

So smiling can be like medicine that not only helps us feel better,

But can help others feel better too.

It's something beautiful,

And I think it can tell us something about how our heart's doing.

If we don't smile much in life,

Then perhaps it's really good we're listening to this happiness podcast and working on changing that.

And we can.

We all can have beautiful lives.

I know it takes work.

I know it takes effort.

But if we put forth that work and that effort,

I do believe what we'll find is our hearts will become happier.

We will smile more.

And if those smiles touch other people's hearts,

They may find a little bit more happiness in their hearts too.

But one of the most beautiful aspects of smiling is when it just comes out of nowhere,

And we just find our hearts being happy.

It's in us.

We just need to make space for it,

Make time for it,

And find our happy hearts.

We never lose them.

We just need to rediscover them.

Thank you for joining me on the happiness podcast.

If you are finding these episodes helpful,

I would love for you to share your experience with others.

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Org.

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The reviews are an awesome way to encourage people to start listening to the happiness podcast.

And until next time,

Accept what is,

Love what is.

Reviews

Great advices!!

I've never thought of smiling and it's impact on our lives and others in quite this way. You've opened my eyes and I'll definitely be smiling more often!

Short and sweet 😁🙏

I don't have much to smile about these days, but I will try to smile more. Thank you

Beautiful. Thank you 😁

Thank you.. love this and smoled the whole way through listening to it 😁😁😁

I'm learning and practicing to do this more. When I'm in deep contemplatiion, people say I look angry. My profession requires me to be in deep thought all the time. I'm working on it.

Thank you this just put a smile on my face 🌟🌞✨🍀

Thank you Dr. Puff - that was very inspiring! I often do as you do while I'm out walking or in malls etc., and the responses are so varied. I need to do this more, so thank you for the reminder!

Thank you for emphasizing the value of a smile. I've been told to wipe that grin from my face. Others try to dim the light in me but i will keep shining. Thanks again.