The Right Sort of Infectious
Smiling is infectious – the right sort of infectious. You only have to start to think of something funny and you begin to smile. It’s called Paramnesia. The mind doesn’t know if something is real or not. Go ahead, try it right now!
Another example is a spider phobia. Imagine I had someone in my therapy room (in the days when social contact was still okay). Their spider phobia is very real. I then take out a toy spider from a bag that is clearly from a toyshop. It is in its packaging, I have the receipt. This is most definitely a toy spider and consciously, my client knows it. The spider phobic client will, however, still have the same full-blown response as if it’s a real spider. Why? Paramnesia.
“The mind doesn’t know if something is real or not.”
So how can we use this to our advantage? Just faking a smile begins the process of feel-good chemicals surging through us and it really is literally infectious. There is a great video that went viral. A man in a train carriage begins to laugh at what he is looking at on his phone. After some time, almost everyone on the train is either laughing or at least wholeheartedly smiling with him. Smiling is infectious.
“Smiling is infectious.”
What I’ve noticed since lockdown here in England, is the lack of smiling when we see people outside. I asked my peers around the globe if they too had found the same thing happening. They had.
We seem to have not only social distancing now, but emotional distancing too. A community that once exchanged hearty pleasantries with each other when out and about, are sometimes looking away or seem uncomfortable with even saying hello. It’s as if just nodding and smiling will draw the unseen enemy (the virus) towards us.
Covid 19 cannot be passed on through smiling, acknowledging each other, a friendly wave.
Two nights ago we had the national applause for the NHS. We need to have a national ‘hello’, a communal greeting, a socially distanced ‘high five’.
When you smile you increase your feel-good chemicals, your emotional wellbeing, when you pass this to someone else, you increase their emotional wellbeing. This, in turn, increases our physical wellbeing. It’s a win/win.
“When you smile you increase your feel-good chemicals”
The nation is pulling together, volunteers are coming forward in droves, I, as many others are returning to nursing from retirement to swell the numbers of NHS workers. Let’s win this war against Covid 19 not only with this great camaraderie and support but with simply offering a smile, a gesture to those we see on our one walk, run or ride outside.
By smiling more you are helping yourself, helping others, helping the nation as a whole.
