SMILE!!! Yes, I do mean now!

What happens when you smile? If you’ve hit a problem and you simply sit back and smile, what difference does it make?

When you smile two different things happen.

The first is that your body is tricked into thinking that you are happy and guess what – that makes you happier. This is proven fact. The muscles in your face move in a certain way as you smile, this transmits a smilie signal up to your brain. Your brain, not knowing any different because it’s easily confused (believe me on this one) recognises the signs and then believes you’re happy – and so you are! The brain might wonder “am I happy because I’m smiling or am I smiling because I’m happy” but who cares by this stage?

The second thing to change when you smile is that life recognises you’re happy, something changes for the better. People around you twig you’re smiling so they become happier and then smile back. You get a better feeling from the people around you because your smile is bouncing back all the time.

Obviously if you wander round like Mr Bean with a smile plastered all over your face constantly, there is a slight chance you might get locked up so let's be sensible about it, but you see where I'm going with this.

So when I couldn’t find the right photo for this article, a simple
black and white illustration depicting a VERY broad smile,
I smiled. Then I thought of my dog, Millicent, who always makes
me smile and I recalled a picture of her where she looked as
though she were laughing. Bingo, I had my picture – and all
because I smiled!

So have a smilie day and see what difference it makes, to your
work, your family and your friends.

P.S. Millicent’s famous so has a good reason to laugh – you
can check her out on Facebook if you want to smile:

millicents-memoirs.com