“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” —Thich Nhat Hanh

My morning was what you could call “less than stellar.” Besides my neighbor’s car alarm going off intermittently throughout the night, I got up to discover my bike lock was broken and my bike stolen. And it was raining—again.

As I walked down the street with a figurative and literal rain cloud over my head, I rounded the corner to find a young woman with a cute little dog.  Both were beaming at me. As I stooped to pet the little canine, I felt the fake grin that I had plastered on my face relax, and I started to feel more at ease with an earnest smile on my lips. I also began to feel much better about the day ahead. What just happened?

The science behind a smile

A scientist at heart, I wanted to look further into this. It turns out that when you smile, you actually induce a chemical reaction in your brain that makes you feel happier.

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