Ever noticed how looking at a happy face makes you smile?
That’s because in our brains we have so called “mirror neurons”. Basically, whenever you see an expression on someone’s face, these neurons automatically try to replicate the expression on your own face.
And once you have this expression on your face, it makes you feel the emotions the other person is feeling. Funny thing, your body… feeling a certain way makes you hold your body and use your face muscles a certain way. But it works the other way as well – holding a facial expression makes you feel the associated emotions. (For more fun uses of that, see my article on Body Language Basics).
That’s why being around anxious or angry people makes you inexplicably stressed. The mirror neurons in your brain just can’t help trying to replicate their facial expression, and that brings you stress.
But today we won’t focus on unhappy people. Let’s focus on you being happy and excited, and how that affects everyone around you 
How your smiling affects those around you
- your friends feel happier around you, and so want to spend more time with you
- you feel happy (need I say more?)
- you meet more friendly people…
About the last bit – if you expect people to be fun and interesting when you first meet them, you will naturally smile and be positive towards them. This makes them think you’re a fun person to be with, so they smile and laugh more. That in turn confirms your initial suspicion, so you start smiling even more as you’re with them.
Voila, just you met a fun interesting person, just because you expected them to be that way!
Smiling a lot gives you a permanent “friendly face”
Have you ever noticed how people who have been together very long (like 20 years) start to look alike? That’s because over time they use the same facial expressions, which lets the same muscles in their faces grow and others shrink.
Similarly, if you smile a lot, you will eventually get a permanent “friendly face”. You’ll get those little smile wrinkles in the corners of your eyes, and certain muscles in your face will become more prominent because you use them a lot.
People who look at your face will immediately get a gut feeling that you’re a friendly, trustworthy person. They probably won’t be able to explain why, or will say vague things like “she had a friendly face”. But we are all extremely good at recognizing facial features, and we’ll subconsciously get a good feeling about someone who’s happy most of the time – even if we can’t tell why.
Some fun ideas to try
You know how cracking a big friendly smile at someone just naturally makes them smile back? Try it with strangers on the street! It’s a ton of fun . It’s like happy elixir – you just create happiness out of nowhere.
Tim Brownson calls this a smile ripple. You crack a big smile at a complete stranger on the street, they just can’t help it but start smiling themselves, which in turn makes all the people who see them smile a little. A ripple of smiles spreads around you, like waves in a pond.
On a related note, the same works with high fives. When you put up your hand and just confidently say “high five!”, the other person will slap your hand about 95% of the time. Yes, even complete strangers. You can try it while walking down the street. Or, if you’re not that crazy, just try it in a pub. Walk up to a complete stranger, and just lift your hand and say “high five!”. I guarantee you’ll have a fun time from that, whichever way it goes 
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(Photo courtesy of fofurasfelinas.)
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