Smile!
My theme for the month is "Revise in July". It seems a good time to take stock. I'm too cold to do much else, anyway. I'm trying to be enthusiastic about re-visioning things, rather than the attitude of making an effort to go over things. I'm actually incredibly tired still, and quite sad a lot of the time, which I'm willing to sit with until I get more clarity on why. I worked on smiling today, and it cheered me up. Not how you think. I am heavily opposed to the "projecting positivity" ideal.
My favorite TED talk is this criticism of positive thinking.
And yet Thich Nhat Hanh uses smiling as one of his meditation techniques. I don't believe he means a forced smile, though. He means actual friendly recognition. After all he does say in my favorite vid "There is enough suffering in the world. Why should you have to suffer by practicing Buddism?"
So what does it mean for a smile to "reach your eyes"? Someone with enough knowledge of anatomy to be dangerous might say its impossible. But the eye includes the muscles around it, and the is such a thing as facial muscle co ordination or lack of it. Today, inspired by Christina Ricci's superb acting, I tried out many versions of forced-smile gurning. Get as many parasitic movements as possible. Chin up, chin in, chin forward. Force the corners of your mouth up along various different trajectories. What if you try a smile shape by forcing the middle of your mouth down so the corners are up by comparison? I challenge you to try it for three minutes without cracking up.
I have a whole portfolio of smiles built up over the years that aren't that exaggerated. From "Wow, I'm glad I'm getting paid to speak to you, you bigoted git" to "Of course I'm paying attention" to "This facial tension is to stop me biting you." Its interesting to see if and how they reconfigure my mood.
For a gentle smile at a very poetic meditation I've used this the last couple of days, when I've found I haven't been able to maintain the lovingkindness meditation without being caught by a web of the day's judgements on others.
My favorite TED talk is this criticism of positive thinking.
Click to viewAnd yet Thich Nhat Hanh uses smiling as one of his meditation techniques. I don't believe he means a forced smile, though. He means actual friendly recognition. After all he does say in my favorite vid "There is enough suffering in the world. Why should you have to suffer by practicing Buddism?"
So what does it mean for a smile to "reach your eyes"? Someone with enough knowledge of anatomy to be dangerous might say its impossible. But the eye includes the muscles around it, and the is such a thing as facial muscle co ordination or lack of it. Today, inspired by Christina Ricci's superb acting, I tried out many versions of forced-smile gurning. Get as many parasitic movements as possible. Chin up, chin in, chin forward. Force the corners of your mouth up along various different trajectories. What if you try a smile shape by forcing the middle of your mouth down so the corners are up by comparison? I challenge you to try it for three minutes without cracking up.
I have a whole portfolio of smiles built up over the years that aren't that exaggerated. From "Wow, I'm glad I'm getting paid to speak to you, you bigoted git" to "Of course I'm paying attention" to "This facial tension is to stop me biting you." Its interesting to see if and how they reconfigure my mood.
For a gentle smile at a very poetic meditation I've used this the last couple of days, when I've found I haven't been able to maintain the lovingkindness meditation without being caught by a web of the day's judgements on others.