Every now and then you have to trick the brain into happiness by leading with the body. In this case it’s the simple act of forcing a smile when it’s the last thing you may want to do. I’ve read that merely making yourself smile instills a bit of joy into the moment, and it makes complete sense. It’s sort of a back-end way into an emotion.
If a smile or laugh is the result of happiness or joy, and our bodies have been conditioned over decades to associate that physical sensation with the emotional state that caused it, why wouldn’t doing it backwards have at least a bit of the same effect?
Over the years, I’ve found myself inadvertently employing such a technique – mostly in the form of laughing out of sheer exasperation at life and the typical way it shits on us. And invariably I feel just the slightest bit better.
So on this day, and from this point forward, I will lead with a smile. Start the day with a laugh. And do a little dance to fake it until I make it real.
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