My Smile Experiment — How to be happy in an instant
Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Here’s what happened when I decided to smile 100 times a day
I read an article recently that said children smile an average of 200–400 times a day, but adults only smile 5 to 20 times a day.
I couldn’t stop thinking about this statistic. It rings true, doesn’t it? Look around you right now. How many adults do you see smiling?
And how many smiling or laughing babies do you see on YouTube? Like a gazillion, right? Maybe that’s why the Chewbacca Mom became such a sensation. Laughing adults are so rare that we’re captivated when it occurs.
At what point in our childhood do we start losing our smiles?
Do we lose our happiness all of a sudden when we find out that Santa and the Tooth Fairy aren’t real? Or is it gradual? Do we lose our joy bits at a time — losing pieces of bliss and naiveté slowly as we’re told to stop daydreaming, get drilled with dozens of rules at home and school, or by losing our innocence from watching so much television?
Another thing I had to ask myself is what does it mean that we’re a non-smiling society? Does this mean we’re unhappy? Indifferent? Checked out? Overwhelmed?
As children, we’ve got the best of both worlds. On the one hand, everyone in our lives tries to make us smile. We get tickled and thrown in the air and have people making funny faces aimed at getting our smiles. And on the other hand, we seem to be innately entertained by EVERYTHING. A string or a piece of paper can bring joy to a baby or toddler. When you get down to it, a child’s only real job is to find wonder in the world.
How the hell did we lose this wonder and the smiles that went with it? Are we just jaded?
And of the 5–20 smiles we still have as adults, what produces them? What does it take as an adult to give away one of our few smiles? Are you smiling out of joy, or at someone else’s expense, or do you need circumstances to go your way before you light up with a smile?
I found a Ted Talk video on the Hidden Power of Smiling by Ron Gutman. In a nutshell, here’s what I learned:
· Smiling predicts longevity. Those with beaming smiles live approximately 7 years longer than those who don’t smile, and 5 years longer than those who smile slightly.
· We start smiling when we’re in the womb.
· One smile can raise brain stimulation as much as eating 2000 bars of chocolate or receiving $25,000 cash.
· Smiling reduces stress hormones (cortisol, adrenaline, and dopamine), increases mood-enhancing hormones (endorphins), and lowers blood pressure.
So I decided to do an experiment.
What would happen if I smiled like a child every day for a week? But 300 smiles a day? That would be about 12 smiles an hour. But wait, I have to sleep so that would be more like 19 smiles an hour. Every 3 minutes I’d have to smile. Yikes!
Well, that math explains why we’re not smiling like children. Babies don’t have jobs or responsibilities. They’ve got plenty of time to grin all day.
But I still didn’t want to live in a world where adults only smile 5ish times a day. So, I decided to compromise. What if I smiled every 10 minutes? 6 times an hour would be 96 smiles a day (excluding 8 hours for sleep). So I rounded up and shot for 100 smiles a day.
Sure, it’s a far cry from kid smiles, but it’s an improvement, and I thought it was doable.
So, here’s what I learned when I took on this smile experiment.
Day 1:
I work at home, so the only person I had any physical contact with on my first day was a shutter salesman. Bobby, the salesman, was the first recipient of my smile experiment. I laid my smiles on him, and it was interesting how fast he broke out of “sales mode” and became very relaxed and shared personal stories. He also told me about a special discount. I have no way of knowing if he would have done that anyway, but I think my smile vibe had an impact.
I gave a great big smile to everyone I saw as I walked my dog throughout the day and evening — not just the small polite smile I usually give out. Neighbors I didn’t even know stopped to say hello to me and my dog, Luc. What an eye opening experience!
I started the day feeling cranky. I had a minor injury keeping me somewhat immobile, and I was feeling a little bit of “poor me.” But after one day of smile therapy, I felt on cloud nine — happy for no reason.
I couldn’t wait to try this smile “thing” out in the world the next day.
Day 2:
I woke up feeling energetic and excited about my day. I had a busy day full of appointments and boring errands, but I couldn’t wait to get started.
My first stop was getting some routine lab work done. I could feel the tension in the place, as the techs were shorthanded, and the waiting room was packed.
Usually, I just sit and check my phone in situations like this. But I just sat there and smiled instead. The few people who weren’t checking out their own phones smiled back, and a couple made conversation with me. And I was amazed how quickly the stressed techs became relaxed and conversational when I smiled at them. I left the lab knowing what one tech had for breakfast and about what movie the other tech watched the night before. All in all, this routine, dull appointment was quite pleasant.
I had the same type of experience at my next stops. My smile seemed to be an open invitation for conversation. Conversing with strangers is so out of my wheelhouse. I am not a chit chat type of person. I’m not the one who spends an entire plane trip chatting with strangers. My usual lack of smile is an invisible barrier that says Do Not Enter.
My last stop was a trip to the grocery store (not for science — I really needed groceries). It floored me how many people were walking around in a smile-less state. I counted two shoppers in the entire store who were smiling.
I felt it was my mission to turn one of these shopping frowners into a smiler. So, I smiled at everyone. Not only did this get me closer to my goal of 100 for the day, but it made me happy, and it even turned some of the frowners around.
But my crowning achievement was making a baby smile. Wow, what a high! Nothing’s better than making a baby laugh.
Day 3–6:
Surprisingly, it got harder to maintain a high volume of smiles as the week progressed. I’m not sure why. Maybe I just got engrossed with my “to do” list and just forgot. Or maybe I just reverted to my “natural state.” So I didn’t smile as much as I did on the first couple of days, but I still smiled much more than my norm.
Day 7:
On the last day of my experiment, I decided to spend most of the day out in the world surrounded by people. Once again, I was struck by how few people smiled and how easy it was to change this just by directing a sincere smile their way. It was such a high to get people to change their mood just by giving them a sincere smile.
The Smile Experiment — My entirely subjective unscientific analysis:
1. This little social experiment made me hyper aware of whether people smile. I became an avid people watcher.
2. I realized that I’m not a naturally jovial person. I’m not unhappy; I’m just kind of content. Some people seem to be born with the joy gene. Yeah, that’s not me. I’m not sure if it’s genetic or learned, but by my late 50’s the unsmiling habit is deeply ingrained. My smiles usually have to be earned by an outward condition — funny movies, dinner with friends, cute puppies.
3. I didn’t necessarily feel like smiling every 10 minutes, and I occasionally forgot. Sometimes (most times if I’m honest) I faked it. But then it would start to feel real.
4. Somewhere along the line, I stopped counting. It became too distracting. So I’m not sure exactly how many times I smiled, but it was a lot more than the average adult, and certainly more than my usual amount.
5. Pretending to be happy made me feel real happiness. Even when I didn’t feel like smiling, after a few moments my mood lifted.
6. Being happy attracts more circumstances that made me even happier. I received good news from a friend, got a significant price reduction on a home repair, received first class individual attention at restaurants, and I was a magnet for others wanting to chit chat. But the biggest impact, was feeling an overall sense of well-being.

7. All the happiness swirling inside me seemed to have reduced pain as well. My pain from a minor heel injury disappeared during my smile fest. Coincidence?
8. Being happier doesn’t mean that frustrating people or circumstances won’t show up. They did. But I was able to deal with these instances without going off the rails. My HOA lost my payment? No big deal. My appointment stood me up? No worries. I was able to deal with these minor nuisances without taking on additional negative energy, which ordinarily makes the situations worse.
9. People are more attractive when they smile.
10. I can be content, and even happy when I don’t smile, but it’s impossible to be happy when I frown.
11. You can make a huge difference in the world just by smiling. You don’t have to find a cure for cancer or eliminate hunger to make an impact. Smile, bring happiness and joy to just one person. Why do we think we’re powerless to change the world? A simple smile can change lives. Imagine if everyone on the planet was happy.
12. Smiles have to be authentic to have a real impact.
13. Size matters. How big you smile determines the amount of joy you receive. A small grin feels good, but a gigantic ear to ear smile is blissful. It’s easier to smile often if I’m somewhere in the middle of this happiness scale. I save my big ear to ear smiles and laughter for situations that warrant them. Sustaining that level of happiness would be hard.

14. Smiling from a deep place of joy is a rare and beautiful thing. During this experiment, I remembered an instance when someone’s smile was so breathtaking and sincere that I felt his energy of joy. Years ago when I was entering the Chicago Conservatory, a young man was sitting at the entrance drawing in his sketchbook. He looked up just as I came in the gate and I will never forget his smile. It was the personification of pure joy. His bliss radiated from his smile, and I couldn’t help catch some of it. To this day, I can still remember what it felt like to be in that young artist’s blissful energy. So, yes, we can fake it and feel better. But nothing is better than the real emotion of joy.
15. Smiling is the universal language for “yes, I’ve got plenty of time, come talk to me for as long as you like.” I became a magnet for people who wanted to talk A LOT. So, if you’re on a deadline at work, smiling may not be the way to go.
Simplify your life
My biggest takeaway from this experiment is a reminder that too often I make life so much more complicated than it needs to be. We’re all looking for the secret to happiness, and a simple smile can be a catalyst for achieving that.
Life doesn’t always have to be so complicated.
· Drink more water
· Eat real food
· Get plenty of rest
· Tell people you love them
· Take small steps every day toward your goals
· Smile more
So simple, right?
I spent years consciously honing positivity in my life. My life is pretty damn good. I only have positive relationships, I love my work, I have enough money, I’m healthy, I seldom watch the news, and I include plenty of self-care in my daily routine.
But this experiment was still a wake-up call. Smiling made me happier.
Need motivation to start your own smile experiment? I dare you not to smile at this!

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If you’d like more ideas to bring happiness into your life, check out my free e-book 25 Ways to be Happy Right Now. Enjoy!
