Happy Monday Morning my Happy clan! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend full of happiness and "funshine"! My weekend was wonderful - I was extremely productive at work, I got to see lots of my family at my nephew's birthday party and some awesome friends I haven't seen in a long time as well! Plus, I got to spend a lot of quality time with my guys! So, my weekend was definitely a grand slam :)
As I'm sure you all can tell, I didn't post a Happy last night. Not that I didn't want to, I was just too tired to hold my eyes open long enough to write it ;) So, to make up for it, today you are going to get a Happy in the morning and in the evening too! And depending on how busy I am - you may even get one shoved in the middle of the day... But let's focus on our morning Happy first.
Today, I want to talk to you all about smiling. I know I am constantly telling you all to smile, but did you know that smiling is actually good for you, physically and mentally? Mother Teresa once said "We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do" and she was right! Leo Widrich did a scientific study on smiling and the affects of it and it was proven that smiling actually decreases the stress-induced hormones that affect your physical and mental health negatively. Smiling not only reduces your stress but it increases the positive emotions within you!
Let's break down smiling in the scientific view. When something positive happens, like seeing an old friend or getting a hug from a loved one or getting the first cup of a fresh pot of coffee, neuronal signals travel from the cortex of our brain (the outer layer) to the brain stem. From there, the cranial muscle carries a signal to the smiling muscles in our face, the main two muscles are zygomaticus major and obicularis occuli. Once these muscles contract a positive signal is sent back to our brain that reinforces our feeling of happiness and joy. So, pretty much, it starts a "happy cycle" within us - our brain feels good and tells us to smile, we smile and tell our brain to feel good, and so on! However, scientists have proven that when people smile without using their obicularis occuli muscle, it doesn't stimulate as strong of "happy" signals. The reason is because those are the fake or forced smiles. The obicularis occuli is the muscle that encircles the eye socket. I'm sure you've all heard the phrase, smile with your eyes, well - this is where that comes from.
And did you know that our brains keep track of all the times we smile, throughout our entire life?!?! Our brain knows how many times we've smiled and how often we smile and what our "overall" emotional state is. Smiling is also contagious - especially when they're real smiles (not those silly just-use-the-corners-of-my-lip smile). Why do you think the Mona Lisa is one of the most popular paintings ever? Because of her smile!!! And it's a real smile too!! Go look at it, I bet you smile back :)
So, smiling is proven to be good for you. Even forcing a smile when we really don't feel like smiling can lift our mood slightly by reducing our distress. It's time that we all just start smiling more! Let's start lifting our own spirits while lifting those around us! Let's start having happier days that last all day more often ... And all it takes is just a simple smile!! A smile is the prettiest thing you can wear, and the cheapest thing too! So go out there and smile like the sun - be the reason someone else smiles today! Making someone smile can change the world, maybe not the whole world, but their world! When life gives you a hundred reasons to cry, show life you have thousands of reasons to smile!!! Now, go - have a smiley day and until later, just keep smiling and spreading that love!!
Peace, Love and Happiness!
Karen :)
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