Lighten your Mood by Facial Expressions

The evidence is in: our facial expressions affect our mood. But at the face of it, many of the expressions on the faces are not happy: they frown intrusive of our coworkers. We face our boss who expects twice the work for half the salary we bare our teeth in traffic that keeps us from our chairs at the end of a long day. Here's how we consciously alter the facial expressions to ease our mood.

You walk into the office and the first thing you see is an angry note from your boss. Well, he is not the only angry person around. Without realizing it your boss wrinkles his forehead and squints his eyes. He takes a deep breath, raising his eyebrows, spread wide. You take a moment to smile, but you do not feel like it. Repeat as many times before to deal with that memo.

You and your colleague are putting together the presentation to the Board - but you cannot get it to work. The confusion is the deepening of the line between your eyes. Here's how to get rid of that term, and get rid of some of the confusion accompanying. Place two fingers between the eyebrows. First deepen the crease, then slowly raise your eyebrows and spread apart. Repeat several times, then its back to the drawing board.



You've one of those endless meetings. No matter what your desk is yaw under the weight of all the real work to be done. The tension continues to rise, still clenching your jaw, and cheeks start to get tense. Take a deep breath. Shut your mouth, a cheek filled with air, then push the air from the other cheek. Throw that balloon of happiness round in the mouth and feel the tension deflated. And be sure to smile when finished.

Okay, so finally you are out of their meeting, but things are not so optimistic again looking at your desktop. The clock is inching towards 5:00, when you have enough work to keep it there until midnight, but you have to be at home in half an hour to attend guitar recital of your son. Besides your wife just called to say that the dog is in renal failure and her daughter has lice. With the weight of the world care about you, your brow is lowered further. Nothing to do: smile. Forcing it! Laughing, even! Of course, tension is not going to solve the problems, but a light mood can help you take right decisions. At least lift your face a little easier. And sometimes, in the life, that's all we can ask.

The more the merrier! Get your friends and colleagues to brighten your mood with you. Just looking to meet a cheerful person!