Smiles have been studied quite a bit lately. In a study at the University of Kansas found not only do similes create happiness they help us recover quicker after stressful events. A real smile after stress even slowed heart rates. A genuine smile is a very effective tool for making one feel better and happier. Smiling has positive benefits for your heart! Then in a study from Technische University in Munich they found that a smile gave you the same "mood-boosting values" as eating 2,000 chocolate bars or receiving $25,000.00. They did another study in 2009 that found that the brain happiness circuitry is activated when you smile.

Research shows that those with the widest smile are found to be generally happier and have a higher level of well being. Research also demonstrates that when we smile we look better to others they perceive us as more likable, courteous and competent. You want to be seen as more likeable and competent. If you were able to walk down the street or through a store handing out $25,000. To each and every person that you saw you would, right? If you can give them that same level of happiness with a smile that cost you nothing but even pays you dividends why not? What is the outcome this would have on the world if we took this viral?

If smiles are able to change our life and emotions so much and we want to change our state then should we just fake it till we make it. So it depends. If our faking it is actually faking it the smile is just in our mouth not in our eyes then it is not as helpful. Faking a smile had almost none of the positive side effects of a real smile. A smile that didn’t include the eyes is what is used as faking a smile and that came at a cost. But if your idea of faking a smile is putting on a real smile even when the feeling of happiness isn’t welling up from inside, then faking it till you make it is a good thing.

Smiling is a very powerful tool and it is contagious. We feel happy because we smile. If you want to change the world just pass a smile to each and every person. Facial expressions are subconscious and we react to them almost instantaneously. When someone smiles at you it is an innate unchangeable biological response to smile back. How many smiles can you pass on in a day? I would love to see this go viral.

Lastly here is a fun fact: If while you are experiencing pain you smile, Your sensation of the pain will be lessened.

So smiling is good for us, it makes us healthier, and we look better to others. How then do you stack up? 30% of people smile over 20 times a day. Is 20 times enough for you? Another population dominates the smile game with over 400 smiles per day. That population is children. This is a way that being like a child is good for us. So how often will you commit to smiling each day?

Please subscribe to this podcast and leave a rating and review, to help others find this podcast. Also join the Facebook group. Here is the spot to click and set up a time so we can discuss how you can use these tools and others to get your amazing life!