An Opportunity to Practice Smile Meditation

In an act of sheer brilliance and inspiration, I chose my words for 2022--JOY and HAPPINESS--and announced them joyously and happily to the world. Then, I immediately turned around and ran head first into a thick and unyielding wall of anxiety that knocked me down a deep, dark hole of depression that I haven't yet completely found my way out of. 

I know that doesn't seem much like the stuff of hope, beauty, and magic, but I'm just really trying to keep it real here. And, even though I'm generally on a path of chasing rainbows, that doesn't mean I'm always finding them. To find rainbows, we all have to walk through storm clouds, and that's where I am right now. No point in pretending otherwise. I am working on trying to climb out of the pit, but it's a slow process, as you know well if you've ever been there, and it takes a tremendous amount of energy, which depression is very good at zapping.

One low-energy technique I'm trying to employ is smile meditation, which I recently read about and am very much intrigued by. (I have been aware of the concept for a while but only became familiar with this term for it in my recent reading.) All you do is sit and smile. Seems simple in theory. Feels difficult in practice. There is actually a ton of brain research on this idea that proves that smiling--even if it's fake--for at least 10 seconds, can literally switch up the signals in the brain and create happier feelings in a person, even if nothing else changes. I think I can probably find the energy to sit and smile for 10-30 seconds a couple of times a day, even on my worst days, so I'm giving it a shot. And, now that I think about it, the fact that I'm even trying to do something to change and to improve is exactly the stuff of hope, beauty, and magic, so I feel sure I'll eventually find the rainbows I'm looking for.