Happiness is a state of mind – and not only that it’s contagious!

It’s been tested putting a smile on your face really does make you happy.   It has to be said that people cry when they’re sad. And they smile when they are happy.  They nod their heads in agreement.  So it makes sense that the same process should work the other way round, even if you’re unaware of your expressions, or body language. 

There have been lots of experiments done to test these.  They are a simple (and fairly quick) test to do for students and are often something first year psychology students are asked do; so many variations of the same experiment have been carried out over the years – it goes kind of like this: one group of participants are asked to hold a pencil between their teeth, so that it doesn’t touch their lips. Another group hold the pencil sideways with just their lips, but don’t allow it to touch their teeth. Without realising it, those ‘teeth only’ participants had forced the lower part of their faces into a smile, whilst those in the ‘lips only’ condition had made themselves frown.  They were then shown something that was supposed to be funny - it could be a sit-com, a comedian, or possibly a series of jokes.  And the participants are asked to record the level of happiness. They usually experience the emotion associated with their expressions. Those who had their faces forced into a smile felt happier, and found the stimulus much funnier, than those who were forced to frown.   OK fine I hear you say – but does it last?

The strange thing is that happiness does not seem to dissipate when people stop smiling. It lingers, - but not only that, it affects the way the mind works, so for example you are more likely to remember happy life events. AND it also affects others.  Have you ever noticed that when you smile at someone they smile back; and if you ignore someone, or glare at them they will at best ignore you, or quickly look away?

So if you would like to influence your mood - Why not try one of the following?

Small actions make a big difference

Take a few moments and write down five things that you really like and you’re grateful for… yours will be different to anyone else’s list – it could include the smell of freshly baked bread – the fresh sweet aroma after a rain storm, feeding the ducks in the park etc, etc…. the reason that these will affect your mood is that you are simply thinking happy thoughts and they stay with you.

If you have a day when everything seems to go wrong…. Just cast your mind back to something that you really appreciated – a spontaneous hug, a bunch of flowers, the first dribbly kiss your child gave you… anything and you will really change your mood for the day

Did you know … if you think negative thoughts you change the way you approach life…you’re looking for things that are going wrong – simply confirming that what you thought is right and overlooking all of the things that are going right – you simply don’t notice them because you’re not looking for them and if you think happy thoughts you’re looking for happiness.

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When I see clients who’re depressed I often give them a happy anchor… I ask them to go back into their memory to a time when…. And then ask them to re-live the memory – using all of their senses so that they re-live their feelings with the people who were there at the time etc and ask them to make them more and more vivid and these feelings not only help them to feel better, but the mind can be used to create a link to part of the body so that when that part of the body is touched those feelings take over – so if you ever need to you can simply touch that part of the body and the feeling that you need will take over.  Feelings can easily be influenced, if you want them to be by yourself, or by an experienced practitioner.

How happy do you want to be? 

Contact me now to let me now and let me show you how…

free initial consultation – chris@whatsholdingyouback.biz