Happiness: Are you feeling it?

There have been so many cases lately that are emotionally gut-wrenching, I thought it would be nice to take a look at a photo of happiness.

Portrait of a young woman smiling Model Release: Yes Property Release: NA

Read moreIn Dr. Paul Ekman’s research on facial expressions, he found that when he mimicked negative emotions like frowning, he started to feel down, and when he mimicked happy emotions, he started to feel better. If my memory serves me right, he talks about it in his book, Emotions Revealed.

Dr. David Matsumoto, another leading expert on facial expressions, writes about a related topic in National Geographic magazine, (in their Spanish edition, he translates it for you) about how our emotions are “bio-psycho-social reactions”. It’s fascinating reading how our emotions are connected to our biological responses!

So, now that you see a happy face, do you feel better? I hope so! If not, maybe her smile didn’t make you smile? (edited).

I needed a pick me up and I suspect you could use one, too.