--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb <no_reply@...> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > From one of the TED talks, a series of amazing scientific > > facts about the human smile. Did you know that your smile > > can predict how long you live, or the length and happiness > > of your marriage? Did you know that one smile produces > > the same level of brain pleasure center "feel good" > > activity as 2000 bars of chocolate? And smiling doesn't > > make you fat. :-) > > > > What these facts suggest to me is that adding a few smiles > > to your day will probably do more to expand the level of > > happiness in the world -- both yours and others -- than > > any amount of buttbouncing. > > > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9cGdRNMdQQ > > Just to follow up, I was completely serious in my last > sentence. I was quite taken by the research cited by Ron > Gutman that seemed to indicate that the physical act of > smiling has a profound effect on the areas of the brain > that generate our sense of happiness or well-being. > > If this is true, it kinda flips a commonly-assumed > assumption on its ass. What if smiling is not the "effect" > of a feeling of happiness and well-being, but one of the > "causes" of it? In other words, could something as simple > as "smiling more, intentionally" actually *bring about* > changes in one's blood chemistry that one associates > with happiness and well-being? > > Well, I can attest that it does (in my subjective opinion, > the worth of which plus a buck fifty will get you a bad > cup of Starbucks coffee) . Since watching this TED > clip, I've been practicing "mindful smiling." That is, > every time during the day I realize that I am not smiling, > I smile. Call it "coming back to the smile mantra" if > you like. :-) > > What I've been noticing is that -- for me -- this seems > to subtly shift my state of attention, into a slightly > more happy mindstate. And, as the speaker in the clip > said, it's "evolutionarily contagious." I just got back > from a walk around my town, during which I turned smiling > into a spiritual practice, and smiled non-stop. > > I feel great. And, interestingly enough, even in Holland, > even on a cold, dreary December day, my smiles were con- > tagious. Many people smiled back. > > Based on some of the research that Ron Gutman presented > in his talk, that simple act of "smiling back" gave > their brains a boost of feel-good endorphins stronger > than 2000 bars of chocolate would have done. And all > it took to trigger it was some stranger smiling at them. > Good deal. Win-win in my book. > > So...those of you still reading at this point :-), and > still living on the ground in Fairfield, what do you > think of this whole smiling thing? What's the story at > the domes? Do those exiting from the domes smile a lot, > or not? I really don't know, so I'm really asking. >
I will check out the TED talk - sounds interesting. I read some years ago that the act of physically smiling does change brain chemistry and makes you feel better - maybe this is the researcher who did that work.
