Smile Power VS Anxiety Depression & Misery

The power to control our happiness lies entirely within our ability to choose what we focus on, not in external circumstances or other people's actions. We can rewire our brains away from judgment and negativity toward appreciation and joy through deliberate, consistent practice.

• Our emotional states determine how we perceive the world around us
• Research shows smiling activates brain patterns associated with ease and happiness
• Positive emotional states improve cognitive function, problem-solving, and relationships
• Happiness correlates with better health outcomes and longer life expectancy
• We've been trained by society to focus on judgment, disagreement, and negativity
• The brain builds strong neural pathways to misery through years of practice
• Happiness requires redirecting attention to what brings joy, beauty, and interest
• Building new neural pathways requires consistent practice and persistence
• You alone control your focus and therefore your emotional state

Focus your attention on aspects of life that naturally elevate your state, and practice this daily until it becomes your new default.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Do you hear Dr Louis Armstrong in the background?
I think he's got an importantmessage for us here today, and
it's one that goes much deeperthan it appears.
So what does Louis say?
Louis says when you're smilingright, you're smiling what

(00:24):
happens?
The whole world smiles with you.
Okay, that might seem a littlehokey, but there's a deep truth
to what Louie's offering us hereand I want to make that point
very clear.
If you've ever walked out intothe world, I know you have.

(00:48):
All of us have right, and we'rebeing a grump on that particular
day, we notice the whole worldseems to be grumpy.
When we bring sadness or webring anger or frustration, what
happens?
We get it back, we get it back,we get it.
It sort of multiplies.
What happens, we get it back,we get it back, we get it.

(01:08):
It sort of multiplies.
In a sense, we can only find inthis world what we're
perceptually ready to see orexperience in that moment, and
that's going to be dictated bythe state that we're in, the
emotional state that we're in.
So when we're smiling, whenwe're genuinely smiling, the
world smiles with us, and wehave good data to support that.

(01:29):
It comes from so many differentareas.
So of course you may have readthat research.
When we smile, we activatecertain muscles and we have to
employ certain neuronal activityin the brain that has to do
with more ease and happiness.
It's just the way it works.
We also know that when we'resmiling, when we're genuinely

(01:50):
happy and we know this from theneurofeedback literature, we
know this from psychologicalstudies over the years that
inevitably our brain worksbetter when we're in a better
state.
We think better, we focusbetter, we remember better, we
have better relationships, wesee the world in lighter ways

(02:11):
and we have understanding, wehave insights, we solve problems
better.
And we also get another benefit.
It's another way the worldsmiles with you when you're
smiling, that is, we live longer, we're not as susceptible to
illnesses and disease, we havebetter long-term relationships,
we stay in marriages longer, westay in our jobs and find more

(02:34):
fulfillment.
We enjoy our community and ourneighborhood more and more.
So all these benefits come tous when we smile genuinely,
smile at the world.
Now, what does it take togenuinely smile?
Well, we know what it takes togenuinely frown find frustration
, find anger, judgment.

(02:55):
We simply look at something andwe disagree with the way.
It is Pretty much.
That's simple, right.
This brain has an opinion thatyou shouldn't be that way, or
that person shouldn't be thatway, or they shouldn't have
mowed their grass that way, orthey shouldn't have passed that
policy.
Or this person shouldn't be ingovernment, or that person
shouldn't be in government, orit's endless.

(03:18):
Turn on your TV, pick up thephone, it's endless, right.
So all it takes is a judgmentthat I disagree with what is,
with what is happening, and Ican find misery pretty quickly.
And guess what?
Most of us are pretty welltrained to do that.
It's habitual.
Our parents, teachers, now themedia, just about everything

(03:43):
that you're exposed to,encourages a perspective of
disagreement, talking about adiscussion of something we don't
like and a perpetuation of thattheme, which equals misery,
misery, misery.
So we know how to do misery, weknow how to do it well.

(04:06):
Misery, misery.
So we know how to do misery.
We know how to do it well.
We practice that a lot and wecan move into states of anxiety
because we can have fear and wepractice fearful thoughts long
enough, we can become depressedand then really depressed.
So it's interesting because themeaning behind Louis Armstrong's
song smile and the whole worldsmiles with you has this

(04:29):
profound depth, because it'sreally about if you recognize
that you actually do havecontrol over your smile.
You control it.
Nobody else controls it.
You cannot blame your husband,your wife, your kids, your
neighbor, your mom, your dad,the government what do you see

(04:49):
on TV?
You cannot blame anything fortaking away your mojo, your
smile, your happiness.
So once you recognize theopposite side of that, which is
you have the power, you have thepower.
You have the power to choose tosmile, and the genuine smile
comes from recognizing that youcan choose what you focus on in

(05:13):
the world.
Now, if I focus on somethingthat inherently makes me
miserable and I'm going to bemiserable and, trust me, I'm not
encouraging you to look atsomething that makes you
miserable and try to find a waythat makes you happy.
Don't do that.
It won't work.
It just doesn't work.
A lot of therapy tries to dothat.

(05:34):
It's a very, very, very toughmountain to climb.
Instead, elevate your state.
It's all about state management.
So, if you can elevate yourstate by changing what you focus
on and focus on the things thatyou appreciate, focus on the
things that you enjoy, focus onwhat makes you laugh, what makes

(05:55):
you smile, focus on if you havememories that make you smile,
focus on those, but mostly lookat it the world, see this
amazing, beautiful world.
Listen to the sounds that makeyou smile, look at the sights
that make you smile, put yourfeet on the planet, feel the
pulse of the earth and and letit inform you, so to speak, of

(06:16):
the state that you deserve thestate of happiness, the state of
joy, the state of appreciation.
So I'm covering lots of pointshere, but all in service of one
primary idea, and that is thatyou can choose what you focus on
.
Don't give that power up toanyone, anything, something
that's happened in the past orsomething you fear in the future

(06:39):
.
This moment, the only momentyou can control, and in this
moment, instead of letting yourbrain do what it was likely
habitually trained to do fromparents, teachers, society,
media to judge and to feel thatthere's something you disagree

(06:59):
with, your brains gonna do this,by the way, it's what it's just
natural.
So you can't look at what youdon't want, remember you look at
what you enjoy, what youappreciate, what you're
interested in.
You can even think about whatyou do want, what you're excited
about, and then let that smileemerge, practice it.

(07:21):
Think about the number of hours, the number of days, the number
of years that you havepracticed judgment, disagreement
, frustration, railing againstwhat you don't want, don't like,
disagree with.
Things should be different,things should have been
different, things will bedifferent, but it's not Any of

(07:43):
these ideas.
They've been practiced over andover.
You have these neural pathwaysthat are like 20-lane paved
highways in your brain, tomisery for some of you, right.
So if we're going to carve apath in the jungle and turn this
into a highway, we've got topractice.
We've got to go back and forth,back and forth, back and forth,

(08:03):
and that's your job.
Your goal is to practice lookingat what makes you smile, what
makes you feel good.
Where do you see love?
Where do you see beauty?
Where do you see interest?
What kinds of movements do youlike to dance?
Do you like to walk?
Do you like to play a sport?
What will make you feel goodand do more of that?

(08:24):
Focus on that, use the power ofyour attention to focus on the
aspects of life and practice it,practice it, practice it,
practice it, practice it.
If you practice for five yearsor 10 years or 20 years, judging
in ways that bring misery,anxiety, upset, frustration,

(08:45):
whatever version, well, youdon't really need 20 years to
undo that, but you will need abit of time, and so practice is
required.
So Louis Armstrong might be agood way to begin to practice,
right.
So listen to Louis and thenbegin to look at the world in
ways to find what makes yousmile, and if the cynic arises

(09:06):
inside of you, that's fine.
You can succumb to the cynic,because that cynic's judging
this just like it's judgedeverything else and misery
awaits.
No problem if that's what youwant, but if you want to smile
and have this whole world smilewith you, then access the power

(09:27):
of your attention.
Focus on what makes you smile,where you find beauty, where you
find interest and spend yourtime there.
You will feel better.
This I know.
Take care.