🦆 CHILL THE DUCK OUT

Volume 033: Smiling's my favorite (and science agrees with Buddy the Elf).

💭 Cold Open

Last week, I was on an early morning work call about an ongoing system implementation. If you've ever been on a call about system implementation at 8 AM, you know exactly the energy I'm describing: necessary, important, and about as engaging as watching paint dry in real-time. A small group of us were on camera, doing our best impression of people who were fully awake and invested in deployment timelines.

Then one of our senior leaders noticed my Teams background, a festive scene of Christmas cookies. There's a Christmas tree cookie, a snowman cookie, a reindeer cookie, the whole cheerful gang just hanging out behind my mildly bored face. And she said, "Jason, with that background you've got to be smiling all the time."

It caught me slightly off guard. I wasn't not smiling, but I also wasn't actively smiling. I was in that default work call face we all have, which is politely attentive, vaguely present, waiting for my turn to speak or for the meeting to end, whichever came first.

But her comment made me smile. A real one. And something shifted.

Not just in me, but in the whole call. The tone changed. We all livened up a bit. Someone made a joke. Someone else actually laughed instead of doing that polite email-laugh where you just type "lol" without moving your face. The same boring system implementation discussion suddenly felt less like a mandatory meeting and more like people actually talking to each other.

And I went from feeling ho-hum to feeling... better. Noticeably better. Just from smiling.

Which made me think of Buddy the Elf, patron saint of unironic joy, who declares…

And while I'm not quite at Buddy-level enthusiasm about most things (I haven't perfected eating spaghetti with syrup yet), it was a moment that reinforced he’s not a cotton-headed ninny muggins.

I usually try to make a conscious effort to smile. I know it helps. I know it changes things. But it's so easy to fall into the routine of what's happening. The boring calls, the long days, the default expression that says "I'm fine" without actually feeling fine. We get so caught up in just getting through things that we forget we have this ridiculously simple tool available at literally any moment.

A smile. That's it. Not a whole personality overhaul. Not a meditation practice or a gratitude journal or a complicated wellness routine. Just... moving your face slightly upward for a few seconds.

And apparently, it works. Even when, especially when, you don't particularly feel like it.

So this week, we're talking about the weird, wonderful science of smiling. Why it changes your mood even when you're faking it. Why it's contagious in the best possible way. And why Buddy the Elf's favorite thing might actually be one of the simplest, most powerful mood shifters we have available.

🧠 The Science Bit

Let's dig into why smiling, even when you're not feeling particularly smiley, actually changes your brain and your mood, backed by people who study facial expressions instead of just having questionable Teams backgrounds.

Your face talks to your brain, not just the other way around.

Most people think smiling works like this: you feel happy, so you smile. But research shows it actually works both ways. The "facial feedback hypothesis," studied by psychologists like Dr. Fritz Strack, demonstrates that the physical act of smiling sends signals to your brain that influence your emotional state. When your facial muscles form a smile, your brain interprets this as "oh, we must be happy about something" and adjusts your mood accordingly. It's like your face is gaslighting your brain into feeling better, and your brain just goes along with it.

Studies show that even forced smiling reduces stress hormones like cortisol and increases mood-boosting neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin. Your brain doesn't actually check whether the smile is "real" before giving you the chemical benefits. It just sees the smile and starts the happiness process anyway.

Real smiles vs. fake smiles (and why both help).

Dr. Paul Ekman's research distinguishes between genuine smiles (that reach your eyes) and polite smiles (that don't). Genuine smiles involve both mouth and eye muscles. It’s the real deal. But the good news is that even fake smiles still provide psychological benefits. They still reduce stress, still trigger positive brain chemistry, still improve your mood. A fake smile is better than no smile, which is weirdly encouraging for everyone who's ever smiled through a tedious meeting.

Smiling is contagious (in the best way).

Mirror neuron research shows that when we see someone smile, our brains automatically fire the same patterns, making us more likely to smile back. This is why one person smiling in a meeting can shift the whole energy. It's not just politeness. It's a neurological superpower. Your smile literally triggers other people's brains to simulate that smile, which then triggers their own mood improvement.

Dr. Tanya Chartrand did some research on emotional contagion that demonstrates that moods spread through groups like a pleasant virus. When one person smiles genuinely, it improves everyone's mood within minutes. This is why a festive background comment didn't just make me smile, it made the whole boring call liven up. It started a chain reaction.

Smiling during stress actually helps you cope.

Research from the University of Kansas found that smiling during stressful situations, even forced smiling, leads to lower heart rate and faster stress recovery than maintaining a neutral expression. Participants who smiled during stressful tasks recovered faster and reported lower stress levels. Your face is apparently a decent stress management tool, and it's free.

🍟 This Week’s Happytizer

This week, I want you to practice deliberate smiling and notice what happens to your mood, your stress level, and the people around you.

Pick one approach:

The Morning Mirror Smile: Before you do anything else in the morning, look in the mirror and smile at yourself for 30 seconds. Yes, it feels ridiculous. That's part of the point. Hold the smile even if it feels forced. Notice if your mood shifts even slightly. Do this every morning this week.

The Boring Meeting Smile: Next time you're in a tedious meeting or situation, consciously smile. Not a fake "I'm fine" smile, but an actual face-moving smile. See if it changes how you feel about the meeting. See if it changes how others engage.

The Stress Smile: When you notice yourself getting stressed, frustrated, or overwhelmed, pause and smile. Hold it for 10-20 seconds. It will feel weird. Do it anyway. Notice if the stress intensity changes even a little bit.

The Random Smile Practice: Set a reminder on your phone 3 times today. When it goes off, wherever you are, smile. Real smile, fake smile, doesn't matter. Just move your face upward for 15 seconds and notice what happens to your internal state.

The Contagion Experiment: Smile genuinely at five people today… coworkers, strangers, family members, whoever. Notice how many smile back. Notice if it shifts the energy of the interaction. Pay attention to mirror neurons doing their thing in real time.

The goal isn't to become artificially cheerful or pretend everything is fine. The goal is to notice whether this absurdly simple physical action actually changes anything about your mood, your stress, or your interactions. Buddy the Elf might be onto something, and the only way to find out is to try it.

🎉 Unsolicited Joy of the Week

Six-year-old Jaden Hayes lost both of his parents in a short period, but instead of staying in the grief, he found purpose in making strangers smile. He’d carry around small toys and hand them out to random people just to see their faces light up. When CBS News asked him how he gets from "the sad place to the happy place," his answer was simple: making other people smile makes him smile. Here's a kid who figured out what most adults spend years learning. Sometimes the fastest way out of your own darkness is helping someone else find their light, and smiling really is contagious.

📺 Watch Jaden's story on CBS News

💬 Tell me about your relationship with smiling

Do you smile consciously, or does it just happen? Have you ever noticed your mood shift just from smiling?

📩 [email protected]

If this made you smile even 1%, share this with a friend... or I'll start showing up on your work calls with increasingly elaborate festive backgrounds until you have no choice but to smile.

🫶 Duckin’ Done

That's Volume 033.

Here's to smiling for no reason, festive Teams backgrounds, and remembering that sometimes the simplest interventions are the most powerful.

Until next time: breathe deep, smile at something, and chill the duck out.

Jason

🔬 Behind the Curtain

The facial feedback hypothesis, extensively studied by Fritz Strack and others, demonstrates how facial expressions influence emotional states. Paul Ekman's research distinguishes Duchenne (genuine) from non-Duchenne smiles while showing both provide psychological benefits. Mirror neuron research explains emotional contagion and why smiles spread through groups. University of Kansas studies show smiling during stress reduces heart rate and accelerates recovery. Tanya Chartrand's work on emotional contagion reveals how moods transmit between people through subtle facial cues.