Episode 130: Want to Feel Happier?

Want a tip for feeling happier when you are down or sad? There is an easily accessible tool that you can use to feel happier. The research points to it, and it is highly effective. I also give an additional tip on how to help others feel happier (which in turn, makes you feel happier too!). Check out this episode to feel happier and give your best life!

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With gratitude, Stephanie❤️

Transcript

The Science Behind Smiling

The Smile At Everyone Challenge

Beach Compliment Story And Ripple Effect

Make It Genuine And Report Back

Share Rate Review And Connect

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Are you feeling sad or do you have moments of sadness? That's the question for today. Hey, I'm Stephanie, the host of the Giving Your Best Life podcast. And I have a just a solution, a tool to put in your tool bag. And I didn't really realize the power of this tool that we carry with us each and every day until I started on my giving journey. I gave a gift every day for 522 days, and that journey changed my life. So what is it and how can it help you if you are feeling sad? It's this right here. It is your smile. So a lot of times when we're happy, we smile. But also sometimes, if we are feeling sad, we can feel happier if we put a smile on our face. I can just tell you talking to you now when I smile, and you can tell my smile is here. And in my eyes, I feel a little bit better. But let's dive a little bit deeper into that because actually, when we smile, we start to get the feel-good hits of like dopamine. So this is related to reward motivation. We release serotonin. This helps regulate our mood and our calmness. And also we get um endorphins. And so just even this small increase of smiling, it can reduce our stress, it can improve our mood, and it can even, I don't want to go into this because I haven't studied this too much, but it can even lower our perceived pain. And when we see this in a stress reduction, it also can help us lower our cortisol. There was a great study done by the University of Kansas and participants. So just think about if you're in college, if you're studying, if you're working hard and having a hard day, it said the participants in this study that held a smile during a stressful task, they had lower heart rates and they recovered faster from those that didn't. So uh smiling isn't just something emotional that we do when we see somebody that we like. We can actually use it as a tool when we're in a stressful situation. Now, why am I talking about this today? Because I have like a giving challenge for you. And that would be to when you're out and about, is smile at everyone that crosses your path. Now, this is a more difficult than you might think. Um, a lot of times we live in a society where we might be walking down the street, we've got our head in our phones, um, we want to avoid eye contact. So we want to shift our heads. It's like, oh my gosh, I don't want to have to engage or look at somebody. But what I've found now over a decade giving a gift is it takes a little courage. Um, but it that helps us to build our courage muscle is to make eye contact and smile at people. It's even harder to do for people who aren't like, you know, they've got a very serious face, like they look like maybe they're angry or sad or whatever. But what I have found over and over and over, I've probably done this thousands of times, is when I smile at somebody, the majority of time is they smile back. It's like they're surprised. You've given this a little gift. Now, I love to add on that is like, I hope you have a good day. And a lot of times, again, people will be surprised. They might pause and then they get a big smile on their face and like you too. Like they're a little shocked that somebody wished them a good day. This can just turn your day around. And there's there's actually like science behind that. So when you smile at somebody, their brain will subconsciously mirror it. Sometimes, like I said, it does take a little bit of time to do that. Um, but then it creates this both of we are sharing in a positive emotional experience. I'll give you an example. I was recently on vacation, and my husband and I were walking down the beach, and I see this gal. She's like coming towards us, and I really love her outfit. Um, and so I smile at her, and she really didn't have like, I mean, she was kind of just like strolling down the beach, not not seeming very happy to be where she was at. And as we passed, I smiled and I said, I love your outfit. And she like kept walking. So at first I was a little annoyed because it was like, oh, just give this lady a compliment. But it like registered in her mind, and she got this huge smile on her face, like this joy and happiness. So think about it. Maybe she was sad, maybe she was dealing with some something struggling. And my smile and compliment, it was like she processed it, her whole body language changed. She smiled and she's like, oh, thank you. And then I got like that boost because I'd given a compliment, she had had a reaction, it was a smile, then it made me smile. So, anyways, I just wanted to let you know if you're feeling down, if you are stressed, if you are sad, is as you go about out and about in the world, is put on a smile. And this isn't a fake smile. This is, you know what? I'm I'm going to practice what the research tells me. I'm gonna be genuine and make that human connection with people that I pass. And not only am I gonna smile, I'm gonna tell them to have a good day. If I see something on them, I love, I'm going to compliment. And I would love to hear back. If you do this, what reactions do you get? And does it make your day better? So I just want to say thank you for joining me on another episode of Giving Your Best Life. Thank you for listening to the Giving Your Best Life podcast. If this episode encouraged you, would you please share it with a friend or family member? Also, we'd love it if you would rate and review this podcast. Finally, if you want to connect with us, subscribe to our YouTube channel or follow us on TikTok and Instagram at GivingYourBest Life. Have a fabulous day.