Little Miss Toujours Souriant

I smile a lot.

In Primary Six, I’d just moved to a new school in a new city, and gained myself the nickname of Smiling Face.

Being a happy-go-lucky person has always come naturally to me, but growing up and becoming an adult has meant that I’ve had to carefully guard my cheerful disposition.

I’ve had to find a balance between weeding out the elements of a people-pleasing nature, and being a truly nice person who offers a smile because she really wants to. I’ve had to switch my default selfie smile from a wide-toothed grin to a more demure Duchenne smile, because I was learning to love my teeth. I’ve had to get comfortable with not having a strong enough resting face to make me look unapproachable at times when I really didn’t want to be approached. I’ve had to become someone who, though pleasant, would be assertive enough to speak to ANYONE about what she disagreed with. I’ve had to learn to stay sunny on extremely rainy days.

So far, I think it’s worked.

These days, I’m full of smiles — and I even smile to myself at the end of every day, when I’m about to fall asleep. Smiling instantly lifts my mood, and makes me feel like everything is alright.

I know we typically only smile as a result of happiness, but what about smiling to induce happiness? If you’d just challenge yourself to try it, you might be pleasantly surprised by how well it could work.

Many studies¹ suggest that just smiling hard can trick your brain into releasing happy hormones and feeling happy; so what could it hurt to try?

Today, make a commitment to show the world your thirty-two as often as you can. It just might be what you need!

[1] Take a look at this article: https://www.nbcnews.com/better/health/smiling-can-trick-your-brain-happiness-boost-your-health-ncna822591