Smile

It's been a little longer than I expected to post on this. Sick kids and time spent learning the techie aspects of this will do that to you.

So, to get on with my journey:
I chose to try the advice on smiling first because I've heard it pretty much constantly my whole life. My grandmother, who seemed only to like songs with the word "smile" in them, was always telling me to just paste a big happy smile on my face and go out and pretend things are great. "It takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile," she'd say.
First of all, I don't believe that for a minute. How many times have you been at a social gathering that called for lots of smiling--a wedding reception, let's say--and come home exhausted, cheeks aching, from the effort? How could it possibly be right? Wait. Is there a loophole here? Could be have a definition of frown, please? Because if frown is the same as neutral face, then I don't think so.
Turns out there has been some research on this. For a paraphrase, I direct you to The Straight Dope.
Anyway, I've never had much trust for all these smiling people. Some of the worst things that have ever been said or done, in my experience, were all delivered by people with great big phony smiles.

There's a certain segment of researchers out there who think smiling originates from fear shown in monkeys. The bared teeth are apparently some kind of warning or grimace.


Yeah, that sounds about right. Any time I see someone smiling too hard at me, I am afraid.

Plus, I always resisted because I thought there's a little sexism involved. Women are always expected to smile. Just look at your female news anchors and compare them with men. The men just have normally affable faces, while the female anchors are smiling so hard you can see the cords of their necks standing out. It always just seemed we smile to please everyone else. Turns out, according to some other researchers, this is true.

Forget all that, though. Optimism gurus say I must smile, and they have the science to back that up.

So I vowed I would try smiling.

Let me tell you, it isn't easy. First there's the decision of what kind of smile. Should it be a big sloppy grin that broadcasts, "I am a sucker" to passers by, or would it be an easier-to-maintain Mona Lisa number? And would I smile all the time or only when exposed to other people?

I opted for a smile somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, but all the time. If this is really supposed to be changing my brain, I want to give it maximum effect.

Through the grocery store aisles, in the car, as I sit here writing, my thoughts are the same. "Must maintain smile, must maintain smile." So far, though, there have been no big returned smiles and hearty handshakes. In fact quite the opposite. People in the store pointedly do not look at me, or sometimes give a sideways glance just as we pass. What's with this weirdo?

Maybe I just haven't given it enough time. Maybe I have to smile continuously for a certain time period before it begins to change my brain. Possibly, the people I see can tell that my attitude is not yet correct. I guess I'll just have to give it more time.