Smile is free therapy

It takes a little to make you smile

and a smile is enough,

so that everything becomes possible.

Gilbert Sesbron

In a situation of acute or chronic stress, when there is a feeling that the whole world is against us (the pressure of everyday worries and unfinished work tasks, difficulties in relationships with loved ones or colleagues, an experienced breakup or just a bad day), it is very easy to forget about an elementary and completely free type of therapy — our ability to smile. One day, one of my clients attending group classes said: “I have nothing to smile about,” to which I replied: “What if this is a natural “cure” with a complex action?” And her face lit up with a sincere smile, because what concerned medications was not subject to discussion in her case, “it’s necessary, it’s necessary.”

According to numerous studies, smiling (sometimes even forced) invariably affects our mood, because at this moment the brain begins to actively produce endorphins — “neurotransmitters of joy”, which can reduce the feeling of physical pain or emotional discomfort. Did you know that a baby begins to smile while still in the womb, as if “preparing” for life? After birth, a child smiles about 400 times a day, and only a third of adults smile more than 20 times a day!

“We smile because we feel like we’re not in danger,” says Sarah Pressman, a psychology professor at the University of California, Irvine. After some time, the message about the absence of danger…