| |
| |
|
Happiness Information |
|
|
|
Smile - A Look at False Happiness
Smile... You'll make your brain wonder what your face is up to. Have you ever seen a poster featuring that old saying "Smile, everyone w i ll wonder what you're up to?" Where I grew up there was a version of that poster hanging in our laundry room that had Garfield on it, his bi g cat grin was always pretty humorous. But no matter how I tried I couldn't force myself to smile all the time. I felt like a moron trying to walk around with a grin o n my face for no reason. I was just talking to a friend at work and he said he was driving along behind woman and he caught sight of her face in her side view mirror, she was wearing a huge grin. Maybe she was listening to something funny on the radio, that would do it, then ag ain maybe she was just applying that old " feel good" technique. That's actually what it is. Check it out - when y ou hear, see or think something funny your brain releases endorphins th at cause you to feel pleasant and happy, the muscles that make you s mile go to work and you en d up looking happy. It's been found to work in reverse too. When you sm ile for no reason, your brain will release endorphins causing you to fe el happy. So, you can smile because you're happy, or smile to be happy, it works either way. But is it a good idea to pretend be happy all the time ? I d on't think so. Someone who tries to be happy all the time coul d end up being confused with their inner feelings and emotions. There' s no logic in smiling just so others "wonder what you're up to." Even if s miling makes us feel happy, there's a time a nd a place. There's a fellow where I work who's always sporting a dumb gr in with his eyebrows raised as if he's in a state of euphoria. He lo oks like a complete idiot. I don't wonder what he's up to, I wonder why th e heck he walks around looking like a dope all day. A positive attitude is one thing, a false expression of happiness is quite another. Think positively, be positive all you want, that's great. But why sport a smile just to appear happy? Will it truly make you happy? Humans have various emotions and facial expressions to match them. We can't trick ourselves into being happy, we'll only end up fo oling ourselves and looking like demented twits to everyone we pass on the street. If we're sad we need to feel sad, let the emotion run it's cou rse and get to the bottom of the sadness. If we're angry we need to hand le our anger, not try to mask it with a phony smil e . Where I grew up there was another poster, this one hanging on m y father's filing cabinet. It was, and still is, my favorite sentiment. It was a close-up of a majestic bald eagle, appearing rather stoic, with eyes half -massed, beak fixed and stern. The caption: "I Am Smiling." Be yourself, and feel the way you feel. Everyone will wonder why you're not like everyone else. Drew Vics, an artist, writer & musician from New Jersey, writes for Myeyez.net, & for other websites online.
MORE RESOURCES:
Happiness - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
4 Steps to Use Fears as Friends: Don't be a Thunder Dog! Imagine humungous, bulbous, billowing alto-cumulus clouds building higher and higher in the sky. They are as black as tar at the bottom and snowy white at the top. Seven Steps to a Better Day Are you tired of the same routine day after day? Do you feel as if today is only a speed bump in the road between yesterday and tomorrow? Well, you're not alone! Many people live day-to-day with little hope for anything getting better. Some are trapped in corporate jobs where they are little more than rats in a maze. Uncovering Your Joy: Using a Personal Journal to Discover a Life Filled with Happiness Author Tristine Rainer wrote "Happiness within a diary has less to do with the events you encounter in life than with the way you experience the process of living." Because a diary mirrors how you perceive and deal with events, it can be used for developing the capacity to more fully experience joy. Colors: How Do They Make You Feel? One of the most important colors in advertising is the color blue. Calm, comforting, soothing, and peaceful are all feelings evoked from this color. A Shortcut to Happiness -- Vote with Live 8 Did you see any of the Live 8 performances in support of stopping poverty in Africa? Here's your chance to create a shortcut to your own happiness by voting to help others. You can support the creation of the happiness of survival for them. Why Choosing To Be Happy Is Not Enough I talked in a recent article about how every moment in life gives you a choice. You can choose a path that leads to happiness, or you can choose a path that leads to unhappiness. The Happiness of Others Is there any necessary connection between our actions and the happiness of others? Disregarding for a moment the murkiness of the definitions of "actions" in philosophical literature - two types of answers were hitherto provided.Sentient Beings (referred to, in this essay, as "Humans" or "persons") seem either to limit each other - or to enhance each other's actions. Top 10 Secrets for Being HAPPY! One of my favorite songs is Bobby McFerrin's refrain, "Don't Worry, Be Happy". I recently had the opportunity to observe people's reactions when a highway was closed because of an accident ahead. Living a Balanced Life - The Real Juggling Act I just read an installment from another self-improvement course that states that celebrities are unhappy because they don't have gratitude for what they have. I disagree. No Happiness Without Patience I'm searching for modern happiness. The old-fashioned kind takes just too long. How To Live Happily Ever After In life, many of us simply plunge ahead, only to realize later that some of the things we did, we wish we hadn't, and some of the things we didn't do, we wish we had. How do you keep yourself on the right track, the right path? And how can you live happily ever after? Here's how. The Elusive Butterfly of Happiness Are You Chasing the Elusive Butterfly of Happiness?For many people happiness is an elusive butterfly in the garden of life. Imagine a young child in the garden on a summer day. Suffering Since wisdom is the art of coping with suffering, it starts with a willingness to tackle it head-on:a) Such is the harshness of our condition that we suffer, sometimes greatly or worse, insuperably.b) Such is the richness of our nature that we can learn to live happily, or at least serenely, within the limits of this condition. Got Play? Passion Love Action You! Playing with your own divinity, spirit, heart, and spreading it around you. YES! When I share with people that I'm a play activist, most people look perplexed. Acts of Kindness Benefit Everyone Do you really want to be happy? Everyone says yes, but the gateway to happiness makes some of us frown. The gateway to happiness, is giving to others. How to Find True Happiness! To maintain an unchangeable sweetness of disposition, to think only thoughts that are pure and gentle, and to be happy under all circumstances, such blessed conditions and such beauty of character and life should be the aim of all, and particularly so of those who wish to lessen the misery of the world. If anyone has failed to lift himself above ungentleness, impurity, and unhappiness, he is greatly deluded if he imagines he can make the world happier by the propagation of any theory or theology. The Secret to Staying Centered and Happy in a Troubled World Many of us are probably so used to crisis in the world that it has become a natural part of our mental scenery. We've grown accustomed to living in a world where acts of bitter conflict, unrest, and inhumanity are everyday things, and their constant contradiction with our essential values almost seems normal. See for Yourself : 12 Step Tools Can Bring Happy, Joyous and Free into Everyones Life We are all familiar with or have heard of the many Twelve Step programs and communities. The reason the 12 Steps are so effective in helping people create happy, joyous and free lives is because it is a program of solution based on principles written so simply that anyone can use them in their daily lives. Are You Getting in the Way? Getting out of our busy mode and into our heart occasionally, I'm certain that many of us would find at least one moment during our day where we could pause, reflect on a situation, and see something that we can do to make a difference in someone else's life.The pace of life and work has increased a lot and I daresay we don't give as much thought as we could to the circumstances of other people's lives. SOLD! Again! Contrast Can Work FOR You Have you ever had an experience where everything you wanted had come to you and THEN you discovered something that seemed to spoil the entire event?That's what happened to me last week when everything I asked for regarding the sale of my house was granted--only the sale did not go through.I had been flying so high in the joy of selling my house to the perfect buyer, that I really 'hit the wall' at high speed, when the buyer failed to meet the closing deadline (even though we extended it a few days!).
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
