The answer is that both are true.
When we are content or feel happy, we are more attuned to the good and beauty of our surroundings,
and this state is reflected in our face by our smile.
The curious thing is that it also happens the other way around:
the more we smile, even if it is forced at first, the happier we feel.
“Never forget to smile, for a day without a smile is a day lost.”
-Charles Chaplin
Smiling improves our mood
An experiment conducted by Fritz Strack showed that being smiling makes us more likely to be in a good mood.
The experiment consisted of two groups of people being shown humorous strips.
In one of the groups, people held a pencil with their teeth so that their lips were stretched into a smile,
while in the other group the expression was neutral.
The result showed that those who previously smiled found the strips funnier, ie,
were more inclined to good humor.
This is explained by the brain perceiving the muscles of our face in the form of a smile,
interprets them as a sign that we are happy,
regardless of the cause, and is attuned to positive moods.
As if this were not enough, the mind works “by tendencies”.
When we are sad or angry, in general,
We interpret what happens to us more negatively and tend to remember and think about negative events,
whereas, when we are cheerful, we take things more philosophically and find more positive memories and thoughts.
So “forcing” ourselves to smile can be a good way to induce our body to find states of greater happiness,
that also feed back on each other.
This is just one of the reasons why smiling is the first step to happiness, but there are more.
Smiles are contagious
We live in a stressful world where we regularly cross paths with many people,
but we hardly notice them: the baker, the bus driver, the doctor, the cashier at the supermarket?
In these everyday situations, being friendly and flashing a smile can make a subtle but very important difference in the long run.
An indifferent encounter becomes a pleasant one.
Mirror neurons cause us to imitate the behavior of the person in front of us.
In the same way that when we encounter someone aggressive we automatically become defensive.
If we go with a smile up front, chances are, in many cases,
we find that they return a smile and gestures of kindness, which enhances states of well-being and inner peace.
It is not for nothing that one of the first things babies learn to do is to return the smile that their mothers or those closest to them give them.
We are programmed to interpret a smile as a sign of safety and to return it,
generating a link that communicates that “this is a safe environment, where you don’t have to be defensive”.
A small gesture, such as a smile, can have a decisive influence on the climate between people.
“If ever you don’t get the smile you expect, be generous and give your own. No one is in greater need of a smile than he who does not know how to smile at others.”
