photo credit: Vivian Chen [陳培雯] via photopin cc
Says Graveline, “Smiling causes your body to calm down. A smile is the quickest way to deal with stress. Just the act of pulling your facial muscles into a smile signals your brain to stop releasing stress-causing hormones and to send out the ones that fight stress. So before you start a presentation, speech, or tough discussion, or when you walk into a tense roomful of colleagues, smile. From an image standpoint, smiling fools your enemies—what is she really thinking? they’ll wonder—and makes you seem warmer and more approachable. (We already know you’re competent.) Smiling also counteracts and balances out the natural tendency of your mouth to flatline or turn down at the edges, a normal trait that makes most people look sad, annoyed or tired, so think of it as a mini-facelift.”
For more from Denise Graveline, including strategies for communications, and training for public speaking, media interviews or social media skills, visit DontGetCaught.biz.
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Thanks Sarah.
i so love your article! kudos!
Great point Sarah. Smiling is contagious – that’s probably why it can help tame a crowd.
Smiling enhances hundreds of facial muscles and it is also a contagious one andc could surely infect others too..
So, keep smiling!