When you smile, you can trick your brain into believing you’re happy. The first time I heard Shawn Achor say this, it went in one ear and out the other.  I had been listening to his book, The Happiness Advantage, on my Audible app half-heartedly during my drives to and from work.  I was in dire need of a change in my disposition.  Years of failed relationships and unrealized dreams had rendered me frustrated and bitter.  I knew that I was the problem and the solution, but I always focused on me being the problem and gave little regard to the solution part.  My thoughts were doused in toxicity, cluttering my brain like useless relics crowding a hoarder's home.

One day on my way to work, I was listening to The Happiness Advantage for the second time.  I was stuck in traffic on the 710 freeway overpopulated with big-rigs.  My mouth wore a frown; my eyebrows were furrowed, and my fingers tapped the steering wheel incessantly.  I heard Achor say, yet again, “Smiling...tricks your brain into thinking you’re happy, so it starts producing the neurochemicals that actually do make you happy.”  I considered what he said and decided to try it.  What did I have to lose? So I started smiling right then and there, on the freeway.  Sure, it was fake and forced.  But I figured I would just have to fake it till I make it.  I know I looked like a freak — but it worked.  Within seconds, I started to feel happy.  It was a weird cognitive experience: I didn’t want it to work because it sounded ludicrous, but I felt happy when, much to my disappointment, it did work.

I continued smiling all the way to my job.  I smiled all day in my classroom. My students thought it was funny because I was obviously forcing it.  But it made them laugh, and it lightened the mood the room.  I didn’t get nearly as irritated as I used to when a student was disruptive.  I was calmer, and I handled challenges with clarity.  When I taught a lesson, I felt passionate.  I was articulate and present.  The students responded to me differently; they were more polite and courteous towards me.  I felt amazing.

I continue to smile.  Believe me, it works, and it never ceases to blow my mind.

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