If you woke up this morning not feeling your usual happy self, then I have a simple technique that can help. It takes a bit of practice but it is FREE, and could significantly increase your happiness levels. You still with me? Read on…….
Think of the Brain and body as one big computer network. Everything is connected. If you are spiritual, you will know your soul is connected too. We all are in one way or another but let’s keep this particular article to brain/body logic.
How does it work?
When we are happy, it’s hard not to smile as we associate smiling as a happy action. The corners of your mouth lift, in fact, everything lifts, your shoulders will pull back, and you may walk a little talker with a spring in your step. So putting a smile on your face sends a message to your Brain that says ‘I’m happy’, release the goodness. Chemicals are released throughout the body, endorphins, dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin to be exact. They are our happiness drugs that the body naturally gives out when we feel uplifted.
Not convinced, want some science?
Okay, so here’s the kicker. Our minds are programmed with sets of rules that produce results through our body (in the form of actions). Smiling is a universal body language we all recognise. When a baby first smiles, we all smile back and cheer. With this, we produce good energy that the baby feels from us. Instantly, they then know, ‘oh smiling is a GOOD thing, I’ll do more of that’. We cheer again, and so on. It’s a program! I have a degree in Computer Science, and I have worked with some of the best developers in the UK. If any of you have worked in this field, you will know too that any program can be reverse-engineered. That is what we are doing here.
The techy science bit
A program is just a pattern. A set of instructions that then determine an outcome or set of expected results. Did you know that computers and computer networks have been formed and created by understanding how our brain and body neurological systems work and mirrored on that?
Think about it; we have a memory function, so does a computer. Our Brain has processing power, so does a computer. We have to clear our minds down from time to time (Meditation is excellent for this). We do the same if your desktop is running slow, we clear down the cache to speed up browser processing. The Pre Frontal Cortex (an area of our Brain) is where we do most of our processing; logic is stored here, and this is where we make decisions. The Hippocampus is one area of the Brain where we store things, a significant part of our memory is here. Messages pass between these functions through carriers and signals. Large computer network systems work in the same way. Yet, we use coding languages such as Message Broker (MB) and Message Queue (MQ) to pass messages between each system.
Okay, enough of the technical, simplify it please!
Simply put, forcing a smile on your face, lifts your face. Do it now and see how it feels. Pay attention to how it makes your face feel at that moment. Hold it for a period, as long as you can, in fact. Soon enough, the signals between the body and Brain will pick up on the autopilot pattern programmed within you. You will start to feel lighter, happier, and in a better mood than you did just a few moments before. You just reverse-engineered the program!
If you want to speed up the process and take a fast track to happiness, look out of the window at the garden or at a photograph of someone you love.
Try it today, oh, and did I mention smiles are contagious? Pass on a smile and the positive energy it brings. Have you ever heard of the statement ‘good vibrations’, that what you are giving out when you smile. Thank you for taking the time to read this, I hope it helped, and I’d love your feedback. Comment below if it worked for you. Let’s share the joy.
Written with love and happiness in mind.
Gina
