1 Sep 2009

and remember....keep smiling - the health of being positive

If you call my father's phone and he doesn't pick up, at the end of his voicemail message he says his famous line  "and remember...... keep smiling". I always thought it was a little corney as a kid, but I think that message is extremely important today - especially as we push through these difficult times. I wanted to share with you all this great article excerpt from Erika Perry about the power of positive energy. Enjoy!

Imagine a world void of caffeine and nicotine, a world where people are energized—dare we say—naturally. There’s more to it than food, water and rest. There’s the energy we receive from a stranger’s smile, a friend’s laugh, or a family member’s hug. This is the positive energy that charges us up and gives us the boost we need to, in exchange, exude positive energy ourselves. Of course, there is the flip side to every energy equation.

According to the famous psychological Swedish study “Unconscious Facial Reactions To Emotional Facial Expressions,” both positive and negative emotions are contagious. The researchers exposed participants to images of faces while they monitored their facial muscles through electromyographs (EMGs). When exposed to happy faces, participants moved their zygomatic major muscle (used in smiling); when exposed to sad faces, participants moved their corrugator supercilii muscle (used in frowning).

So, both smiling and frowning are contagious but is there an advantage to smiling versus frowning? According to Dr. Mark Stibich there is. The Duchenne smile specifically has the best results. Duchenne smiles are the ones that are real and authentic. The smiles where your eyes light up, and your face wrinkles. These smiles are proven to:

– Boost the immune system
– Increase positive affect
– Reduce stress
– Lower blood pressure
– Enhance other people’s perception of you

Laughter has many of the same health effects as smiling, just intensified. This would explain the rising boom in laughter yoga, and an emerging therapeutic field known as humor therapy.

For argument’s sake, lets suppose everyone started off their day with a full tank of positive energy. Is it possible to sustain that level by giving and taking only positive energy? Maybe. There must be a reason the concept of “what goes around comes around” is pervasive in so many cultures around the world. Kindness is one form of positive energy and has been the guiding force for some of our most influential leaders. The Dalai Lama has said, “My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.” Verena von Pfetten of the Huffington Post believes,

“Once you start thinking kind thoughts and forcing unkind ones out of your head, you’ll find that you start attracting the type of people who are energizing to be around. These are the type of people you want as customers because they will continue to feed your business with positive energy and spread the word to people they know. There is absolutely no downside to kindness. The more you give it, the more you get back and the happier and less stressed out you become—that’s power.”

Full article

image James Swain