Nowadays, October has become practically synonymous with Halloween. For many people, this means one thing above all else: dressing up! Costumes and face paint can be loads of fun, but there's one thing we can always leave on... our smiles! That's why this month we're talking about smiling.

Smiling is Easy

If we were talking about mowing the lawn, we'd understand excuses like, "That's a lot of work," or, "I don't really have time right now." Smiling is easy, though. We don't need to buy any extra supplies, and we don't even have to leave our current location to do it. The person standing in line at the grocery store right now can begin smiling.         The same goes for the person sitting in a car on the way home from work. Nothing ties together an outfit like a smile. It works with casual clothes, fancy clothes, and even limited edition Batman costumes. Think of it like a cool accessory, much like a timeless hat or a nice watch. The difference is that instead of being a conversation-starter, your smile is more like a gift to people all around you.

   Trends in Cognitive Sciences published a study in 2016, which found that, "When we observe a facial expression of emotion, we often mimic it." Are the people around you looking kind of down? Help them out, and wear your smile! You don't have to tell them, "Hey, you! Smile!" It can be done in quietly and effectively just by being around them. Easy, right? If you find this hard to believe, remember that we already have a nickname in our culture for the kind of person whose emotion affects everybody else (in a sad way): a Debbie Downer. We're trying to be the positive version of that! A "Happy Henry," if you will.

   Babies, in fact, use this to their advantage early in life. Before infants actually learn to smile from happiness or mimicry, they have what is called a "reflex smile." This is an instinct built into humans and it lasts for the first couple months of our lives. This reflex smile helps keep infants safer and cared for, since nothing makes a parent's heart melt more than a happy child.

It Can Make You Feel Better

You might be thinking, "Do I really put on a smile? Doesn't it just show up on its own?" Well, that's not always the case. Mustering up a smile, even when we're not in a cheery mood, benefits us as much as it benefits others. Research from Clark University in 2003 found that we experience emotions that we pretend to experience. In their words, "Pretend that you are happy, and you will feel happy, pretend that you are angry, and you will feel angry." Obviously, we're aiming for the first half of that sentence here. Once we make ourselves smile, we'll start wanting to smile more. Before we know it, we'll actually be happier.

This month’s Random Act of Kindness challenge is: sing your favorite song while smiling the whole time. And remember, “kind is the new cool.”