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Ilustration A Smile with heavy sneering B Using the fingertips to sense sneering contractions |
C Smile without sneering |
Smiling Exercise A Sneering Smile |
You dont want to stop using your sneering muscles entirely In this exercise practice making the |
most intense sneer you can This time do not smile Ensure that your top lip is maximally curled and |
that you are showing as much of your top and bottom teeth as possible It will continue to feel like |
you are performing a barbaric threat display until you can breathe diaphragmatically while doing it |
This exercise will allow you to pull your upper lip higher and do so with more force It will also help |
strengthen your sneering muscle and clear out the trigger points giving you greater control and |
separating your sneer from the activation of your stress system |
Smiling Activity Crinkling the Nose |
Crinkling the nose adds a momentary sneer into your smile but that can be a good thing Crinkling for |
about half of a second adds affection and dynamism to the expression Spend a few minutes smiling |
in front of the mirror while intermittently crinkling your nose Try looking yourself in the eyes in the |
mirror and say Its gonna be fun When you do this briefly crinkle your nose while you say the f |
sound in the word fun Let it be playful and relaxed |
Smile Dominantly |
According to body language experts smiling with the brow lowered is extremely dominant |
There is solid research indicating that leaders and people judged by others to have high |
leadership aptitude are capable of smiling with a lowered brow This combination of a frown |
and a smile has been called the Bill Clinton effect Experiments find that people rate those |
who use it as particularly dominant and are more likely to vote for them for leadership |
positions Most people have never actually tried it It takes a lot of time and confidence to |
develop this socially Or you can just practice it by yourself for several minutes until it |
is intrepid |
PROGRAM PEACE Self Care Exercises to Reprogram Your Mind and Body |
Smiling Exercise A Frowning Smile |
Smile big without sneering or squinting Next frown by pulling the eyebrows together and down |
toward the eyes Try to keep your eyes wide and hold this expression You might start in front of a |
mirror and then practice in front of a TV You can use this expression to exclaim things like isnt that |
mh |
ironic what a coincidence or thats really amusing |
We are all hesitant to smile optimally because we dont want to come across as inauthentic |
or psychopathic We remember being afraid to smile around our parents grade school |
teachers or bullies thinking they might misinterpret our expression as flippant or impudent |
The good news is that this feeling will fade Smiling large carefree smiles made me feel like a |
sinister demon or a sarcastic jester when first started Now it just makes me feel happy |
Smiling Activity Smile with impunity |
Spend a few minutes smiling just for yourself Notice your inclination to inhibit your smile |
and recognize that the instinct comes from a petrifying fear that other people will |
misperceive or misunderstand you Notice how you perceive your smile to be facetious or |
vindictive Now let those misgivings go Perform the smiling exercises in this chapter |
staunchly with full confidence that your smile is positive coming from a good place and will |
be perceived as such by others |
Conclusion |
Buddhas contemporaries described him as eversmiling and portrayals of Buddha almost always depict him with |
a smile on his face But rather than the smile of a selfsatisfied materiallyrich or celebrated man Buddhas smile |
comes from a deep equanimity from within Mark K Setton |
Genuine smiling induces the release of feelgood neurotransmitters like dopamine endorphins |
and serotonin Thats part of why the intensity of our smiles in childhood photographs predicts |
life satisfaction marriage stability and a longer lifespan Studies have found that even faked or |
forced smiling can increase happiness and decrease depressive states Those studies dont |
distinguish between genuine healthy smiles and forced strained ones Imagine how much |
more dramatic the results would be if they had The lesson here is straightforward smiling |
more and properly increases your standard of living |
believe the best default facial posture is to have the entire face at rest except for a small |
smile involving only the zygomatic risorius and buccinator muscles If you can direct this |
toward others it will cause them to unconsciously imitate your smile This will lift their mood |
and make them want to be around you Since performing these exercises regularly notice |
strangers smiling at mesomething that was unusual before Every time this happens |
wonder why they smiled at me and then realize it was because was smiling It can become so |
effortless that you dont realize you are doing it |
Chapter Strengthen and Tone Your Smile |
Smiling Exercise The Miniscule Smile |
Practice holding the smallest smile you can With time this will create a new mode of operation for |
you where you find yourself smiling for prolonged periods with very little effort It will look and feel |
preposterous at first but coupling it with paced breathing will make it both renewable and |
pleasurable After a few hours of training you will find that this smile arises on its own and slowly |
turns you into a more optimistic and idealistic person |
Fully contracting the muscles helps them grow but contracting them lightly and |
continuously builds tone and comfort Do you sit in front of a computer during the day Turn on |
your paced breathing app and smile Just make sure that you do not subject the muscles to |
repetitive strain and dont forget to massage your face after long sessions of smiling Allow the |
muscles intermittent rests especially once they reach fatigue Spend time smiling as you lie |
down or fall asleep A resting smile may sound like an oxymoron but it shouldnt |
PROGRAM PEACE Self Care Exercises to Reprogram Your Mind and Body |
Chapter Bullet Points |
e Inmonkeys baring the teeth is a threat and subordination display so the smile is |
intrinsically tied to the stress system |
e Oursmiles have become tainted by repetitive strain and the smiling muscles are stuck |
in partial contraction full of trigger points and painful Our tight braced smiles arent |
happytheyre just submissive and tense |
e Contracting the smiling muscles completely while breathing diaphragmatically and then |
compressing the muscles afterward will reverse the bracing |
e solating and fully contracting the zygomatic risorius and buccinator muscles will |
improve your smile |
e Careful practice will enable you to remove the squint eyebrow raise and sneer from |
your smile freeing it to be a purely positive expression |
e Practicing a smile while making eye contact with yourself in front of a mirror will help |
you smile while making eye contact with others |
e Practicing smiling while reading out loud will help you smile while speaking to others |
e As often as possible practice wearing either the biggest or the tiniest smile that |
you can |
Chapter Strengthen and Tone Your Smile |
Chapter Endnotes |
Pennisi E The snarls and sneers that keep violence at bay Science |
Fridlund A J Human facial expression An evolutionary view Academic Press |
ChevalierSkolnikoff S Facial expression of emotion in nonhuman primates |
In P Ekman Ed Darwin and facial expression A century of research in review pp |
Malor Books |
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