In his book I Will Teach You To Be Rich, personal finance guru Ramit Sethi offers an intriguing tip for financial success: smile.

When he was in high school, Sethi applied and interviewed for dozens of college scholarships. At first, he said, he wasn’t getting any of the scholarships. Then he started smiling in the interviews - and he won a bunch of them (enough to pay his tuition at Stanford, in fact). Not a bad ROI from a free upgrade to one’s skills package.

Health Benefits of Smiling

Some quick research reveals there’s something to this. A smile - even a fake, forced one, to some degree - sets off a neurochemical chain reaction. Without bothering to figure out why you are smiling, the brain releases all kinds of positive chemicals, including dopamine (which makes you feel good) and serotonin (which reduces depression). There’s even a study that found that people whose frown muscles were frozen by BOTOX injections reported being happier than people who received other appearance enhancing procedures!

The neuropsychological effect is that you feel better when you smile - even for no reason. And that’s not all - studies have suggested that this cocktail of happy feelings has all kinds of positive physical effects, like a stronger immune system and even increased longevity.

And the social benefits are substantiated, too. Laugh and the world laughs with you, because human beings have motor neurons that cause us to act as we see others acting and feel as we sense others feeling. Their smiles in turn lift your mood - a kind of endless feedback loop of dopamine.

Smiling contagion at the farmer’s market

During this this time of (shall we say) uncertainty within my university, I remembered Sethi’s advice. If a smile can make people want to give you scholarship money, maybe it can help your social capital in all sorts of ways? Having more positive interactions with people - or even tricking your brain into thinking you are - might be a good strategy for keeping on the sunny side.

This morning, I was torn between plowing through some work for next week and walking downtown to the Morgantown Farmer’s Market for some fresh greens and grass-fed meat. Heeding my own advice from yesterday, I decided to go out. Gary even decided to go with me.

As we walked up Spruce Street, I remembered Sethi’s tip about smiling. It didn’t take much to prompt a smile - the sky was clear, the sun was shining, and it was a remarkable 72 degrees in mid-August. (Besides, I love fresh greens in a way that’s not normal.)

As Gary and I entered the market, I immediately saw a student I’d just met the day before - someone whose smile lights up instantly. We chatted for a few minutes, introduced our partners, and I found myself feeling like I’d been turned up to a brighter setting.

Walking on, I soon saw a former student who I hadn’t seen in a number of years. He said hello, also brightly, and we talked for a moment about work. He introduced his father and the little sunglasses-wearing girl at his side. It felt like a reunion.

We saw a couple we know from church engaged in conversation with another couple, but they smiled and waved. As we headed over to buy our greens. two students from my class last spring smiled and came over to us, showing the beautiful flower bouquets they’d just bought.

It seemed like everywhere I turned, someone was smiling, and even better, coming over to chat. I’m sure everyone was enjoying the lovely weather and great produce, but the feeling of happiness in community was infectious. Score one for mirror neurons.