Students and staff

A sincere smile

A sincere smile

Introduction

We can laugh frequently and wherever we want. Sometimes we put on a mask and imitate a smile. It may not be the right moment to feel happy, but we do not always have to be happy in order to start smiling. Our sincere smile and other people’s smiles help us to improve our mood. If we see people smiling, it is often hard to resist and not smile back. Laughing and smiling can be our tools which help us feel better. 

Instructions

Part 1: The smile

To do this exercise, you might need a mirror.

  1. Now smile at yourself very artificially, only with your lips.
  2. Now try to make the smile more lively – smile sincerely, both with lips and eyes.
  3. Now smile at yourself again, but before smiling, look into yourself and try feeling and finding a place where your smile appears from – your inner source of smile: this place can be bigger or smaller, it can be in your head, chest, stomach or any other spot. The intensity of the smile can be as strong as you wish it to be at the moment.
  4. Now, feeling this spot and the source of smile, smile at yourself again. While smiling, involve all your facial muscles and your whole body, try to feel how your source of smile sends the power of smile to the whole body.
  5. Observe yourself in the mirror and enjoy the moment of smiling.
  6. You can play with your smile a little, imagining how you could make it even wider. Imagine that there are strings attached to your smile (like in a puppet theatre), move them down and up again, making your smile even wider.  

Part 2 Delight

  1. Raise your hands up along your sides, and then with great energy and smile, and saying “yes” in your native language, lower them. It may help some of you if you imagine that you have won an award or successfully completed something very important, and now feel happy and satisfied.
  2. You can replace the sound “yes” in your native language with any other that you like best or that is related to the moment when you are delighted. For example, it can be “yes” in English, “a-a-a-a-a”, “ohohohoho”, “egegege” etc. Choose the one that suits you most or think of some other option.
  3. Now continue to be excited about something, calling out this sound loudly (at least 10 times) and helping yourself with your hands.