Are you wondering how to be happier today? You’re not alone. Over 50,000 thousand people scour the web each month, desperately seeking to be happier. The good news is feelings are easily influenced, and smiling is the quickest happiness booster around. Keep reading, and we’ll show you why. Then, discover nine additional tips for happiness. You’ll also want to download our printable happiness infographic and our free happiness ebook entitled Be Happier Now!
Instead of wondering how to be happier, just keep reading. We’ll walk you through the 10 powerful steps to be happier today!
How to Be Happier Today with a Smile
Smiling is a powerful happiness tip that works in seconds. How and why smiling works is verified by science. It’s also vouched for by high-performers from all walks of life. Here are a few significant insights on how to be happier with a smile.
Smile: The Fastest Happiness Booster Around
In 1936, Dale Carnegie published his masterpiece, How to Win Friends and Influence People. Since then, over 30 million copies have sold—making this one of the best-selling books of all time. At the end of each chapter, Dale sums up the key point in a simple phrase. One chapter sums up the application with a single word.
Principle Two
Smile.
~Dale Carnegie
Smiling is such a powerful way to feel happier the wisdom stands on its own!
So how does a book that offers simple life wisdom like Smile become a best-selling book of all time? It’s because smiling works! Smiling is not only a simple way to make a good first impression, but it’s also the fastest-acting happiness tip available!
How to Make Yourself Happier with a Smile
According to psychology, humans are biopsychosocial beings. This is a fancy way of saying that our biology (or our physical body), psychology (or our thoughts), and social relationships (the people we spend time with) all influence the way we feel. I like to simplify this by saying,
People are like spaghetti, everything intertwines with everything else.
~ Jed Jurchenko
Smiling is a biological act that elevates our psychology and social relationships. An adjustment in one area always impacts the others. This makes the simple act of smiling an excellent way to be happier now!
People are like spaghetti. Everything intertwines with everything else. ~Jed Jurchenko Share on X
The Smiling and Happiness Connection
A genuine smile boosts happiness in two ways. First, smiling is a biological act that intertwines with our psychology. Feelings follow actions. When you act happy, you will likely begin to feel happier too. A quote attributed to Sitting Bull illustrates this point. Sitting Bull said,
“Inside of me there are two dogs. One is mean and evil and the other is good and they fight each other all the time. When asked which one wins I answer, the one I feed the most.”
~ Attributed to Sitting Bull
Everyone has the capacity for joy and for sorrow. And like the two dogs in the story, happiness and sadness fight all the time. If you want to be happier now, then you must feed happiness. Smiling feeds our joy. This biological act tells our brain, “It’s time to feel happier now.”
How to Put This Happiness Booster to Work
Here’s how to put this quick happiness booster into action:
- Smile—just do it! Not a creepy, Joker from Batman type of smile. Instead, allow a warm, friendly, and authentic smile to stretch from ear to ear.
- Be grateful. Because a genuine smile works best, it’s important to tie happy thoughts to your smile. The easiest way to do this is with gratitude. There is always something to be thankful for. It might be the sun, the rain, a new day, taking your next breath, or a calm moment in the midst of the storm. The important thing is to remain congruent by smiling while directing your thoughts to a joy-filled moment.
The second way smiling and happiness intertwine is that smiling triggers mirror neurons. Mirror neurons are synapses that fire both when we perform an action and when we observe the action in others. If you want proof that smiling causes happiness, try these two happiness experiments
Happiness Experiment #1
The next time a baby smiles at you, try not smiling back—I dare you! Thanks to mirror neurons, this is nearly impossible. When other people smile at us, we feel happier and quickly return the favor.
Happiness Experiment #2
Now, try smiling at others and take note of how you feel. First, you’ll notice that even a gentle smile at a complete stranger is returned more often than not (again, this is the power of mirror neurons at work). Your smile informs your brain that it’s time to feel happier. Then, you’ll notice that your brain again tells your body it’s time to feel happy when your smile is returned. Thus, smiling is a quick way to get a double happiness boost and start an upward spiral!
These simple happiness experiments reveal that smiling truly is how to be happier today. Why does smiling create happiness? Smiling works because it triggers biological and social joy. Now that we’ve examined the science behind how to be happier let’s look at the experiential side! Check out these quotes on smiling and happiness.
5 Powerful Quotes on Smiling and Happiness
- “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.” – Dr. Seuss.
From this quote, you’d think Dr.Seuss and Sitting Bull were friends. Seuss’s quote illustrates how happiness and sadness are fed. Every day we have a choice to smile or cry. Which will you choose?
- “I love those who can smile in trouble.” – Leonardo da Vinci.
So, how do you become one of “those” people who smile in troubled times? Try asking these two questions:
1. How could I think about this situation differently?
2. What’s good about my circumstances?
The goal isn’t to pretend life is all rainbows and unicorns—it’s not! Instead, the aim is to get a slightly different perspective. Maybe the good is the challenge you face allows you to make new friends, grow as a person, level-up your skills, or know what path not to take next time. The bottom line is there is always a reason to smile. The trick is finding it. To be happier today, try smiling and finding the good in the midst of your trouble.
- “A smile is the best makeup any girl can wear.” – Marilyn Monroe.
Marilyn doesn’t go deep, but she doesn’t need to. In these three quotes, we see that movie stars, authors, and artists all agree that smiling is powerful. It truly is how to be happier today!
- “I eat every two hours. I sleep for eight hours. I have lots of water. I pray to keep calm. Most importantly, I have a smile on my face.” – Vidya Balan.
Vidya’s quote is important because it shows how smiling can be a part of a bigger happiness routine. It’s interesting to note that Vidya considers smiling the most important happiness booster he lists! For more powerful tips on happiness, be sure to check out our happiness infographic below. - “Smiling is the best way to face every problem, to crush every fear and to hide every pain.” – Unknown.
Enough said! This unknown quote is the exclamation mark on the connection between smiling and happiness. Smiling is simply the quickest and possibly the best happiness booster around.
How to Create a Happiness Routine with Happiness Stacking
As you can see, smiling truly is a quick and powerful happiness booster. But smiling is only one way to feel happier today. It’s certainly not a cure-all.
Contrary to popular belief, people are not supposed to feel happy all of the time. In John 16:33, Christ said, “In this world, you will have trouble.” The wrong way to smile is to try to act happy when grieving is a more appropriate response. Every emotion serves a purpose. Even the so-called negative emotions, such as anger, sadness, anxiety, and fear, are all healthy.
The goal of knowing how to feel happier fast isn’t to eliminate the negative emotions but to avoid getting trapped in them. The best way to accomplish this is to embrace sorrow when bad things happen. Before diving into these happiness boosters, first, grieve the loss. Then, when it’s time to move on, practice the fine art of gratitude. Next, allow a soft, warm smile to slowly envelop your face. Finally, continue to feed your happiness with one of the other simple tips for happiness. You’ll find 9 more happiness boosters listed below. The more you add to your happiness routine, the more joy you will feel.
Happiness Infographic: 10 Tips for Happiness
Add smiling to the nine additional tips for happiness in our happiness infographic below for an even greater happiness boost!
Happiness stacking involves taking these ten happiness tips and layering them on top of each other. It’s kind of like a stack of blankets on a snowy Winter day. The more layers of blankets you add, the warmer and happier the world feels. Smiling is a quick happiness tip that becomes even more powerful when other tips for happiness are added to the mix. So smile often and feel happier now.
But, remember, don’t just smile. Practice the other tips for happiness too!
How to Be Happier Today
We’re in the process of revising our ebook, Be Happier Now. Although a new, updated version is on the way, you can still get the original edition for free.
Be Happier Now will help you dive deeper into the ten happiness tips in the happiness infographic. So don’t keep wondering how to be happier today. Grab this FREE ebook and continue your journey with Be Happier Now!
Diving Deeper into How to be Happier
Use the questions below for discussion and reflection. These thought-provoking conversation starters are an excellent way to dive deeper into how to feel happier fast!
- Have you tried one of the happiness experiments listed in this post? If so, how did the happiness experiment go?
- Does smiling feed your happiness? If you’ve tested Sitting Bull’s advice, how did this happiness tip work for you?
- Do you agree that feelings follow actions, and it’s important to act happy to be happier? Why or why not?
- When was the last time you smiled, and why? How did smiling make you feel?
- Which of the 10 tips for happiness in the happiness infographic have you already tried?
- Which happiness tips will you put into practice today?
- Would you agree that smiling is an excellent place to start when it comes to feeling happier? Why?
- Who is the happiest person you know? Do you think this person’s happiness is partially connected to how often he or she smiles?
- What happiness tips would you add to this post?
- What specific actions will you take to level up your happiness today?
- Did this post live up to its promise? Do you feel like you can use these happiness ideas to be happier today?
- What’s missing? Are there any tips for happiness you still have questions about?
Now it’s your turn. Jen and I would love to hear from you. Let’s keep the conversation on how to be happier today going. Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
Next Steps
Jen and I are thrilled you stopped by! Kind words and coffee fuel this blog. If you enjoyed our thoughts on How to be Happier Today: 10 Happiness Boosters and Tips for Happiness, help us keep the great content coming. Please tell us what unhappy marriage ingredients you would add to this list. Or use the buy us a coffee button to help fund our next project. To dive even deeper, you can also check out our books and resources. Jen and I are passionate about helping people live happier lives. Know we honestly couldn’t do this without amazing readers—like you—cheering us on!
Smiling is something we ALL can do, anytime, anywhere! Great advice. I do feel better when I smile. And who can’t smile at a baby. That’s too hard of a hard challenge. lol. But an exercise that proves your point. 🙂 Thanks, Jed.
This post made me smile.
It is impossible not to smile back a smiling baby. hehehe
There is nothing better than a smile. x
Awww, thanks, Kim. I’m glad this post made you smile.
Smiling certainly does make you feel happier. I should try it more often 🙂
These are some awesome tips. Thanks for sharing them Jed.
Thanks, Betty. I’m glad these happiness tips were helpful.
Some great tips here. I miss seeing the smiles I can only imagine behind the masks.
Thanks Pat. I’m glad these tips for happiness resonated with you. And I miss seeing the smiles behind the masks too.
Great tips, Jed! A little shift in perspective and approaching life from a place of gratitude definitely helps to increase my happiness factor! And your quote about people being like spaghetti is so great! How true it is. Thanks for sharing and joining my link party.
Shelbee
http://www.shelbeeontheedge.com
I like the thought of people being like spaghetti. Smiling is definitely a good way to make yourself, and others around you, feel happier. I love the quote about the two dogs. It’s one I think of often. I also agree that it is important to allow ourselves to feel the more negative emotions but also allow ourselves to feel joy too. I know from my own experience of losing my daughter that I often need to just ride the storms of grief when they come, but finding something to be grateful for each day does help me to find moments of joy amongst my grief. #WotW
Oh, Louise, I can’t even imagine the pain of losing a child. I’m so sorry. Thank you for adding your wisdom to the conversation and for sharing this.