When we are sad, we frown, and when we are happy and joyful, the corners of our lips move upwards. And this connection also works in the opposite direction – by consciously and intentionally laughing, we can affect our emotions and become happier, even if we may not feel like it at the moment. It looks like science has discovered the formula for living a happier life - laugh!
If you want to live a happier life, it's enough to force yourself to laugh sometimes! Such theories were built by psychologists at the beginning of the 20th century, but today it is also proven by various researches – emotions affect your facial expressions, which means that you will use them to show how you feel, but the mechanism also works in the opposite direction: also with mime and you can consciously and intentionally influence your emotions with body language.
The topic of whether you can influence your emotions with facial expressions has been discussed hundreds of studies already. Scientists have examined them and through meta-analyses found that you can influence your emotions through your facial and body expressions.
What does this mean for you? in practice? If you feel bad, it can help you, among other things, to you force yourself to smile. If the research is correct, which is quite likely, should feel at least a little better. 🙂
More information:
sciencedirect.com
