The third day I quit, a crave came along and it dawned on me that smoking was only a choice. It was a revelation to me and I laughed out loud. Laughing out loud made the crave go away. From then on when I got a crave I laughed. You cannot stay down when you laugh, even if you don't feel it. Your brain chemistry changes and hearing yourself laugh triggers it.
i was reading the following article "7 good reasons to smile" a few minutes ago which reenforces this concept.
Smiling happens without much thought. When you watch a friend do something silly or embarrassing, you smirk. When a police officer lets you off without a ticket, you grin. And when you are recognized for your top performance in academics or at work, you beam. Smiling is a very natural response that shares our happiness with others.
But did you know that smiling also triggers activity in your brain? Yep, there's a serious mind-body connection there, in your left frontal cortex to be exact, which is—not surprisingly—the area of your brain that registers happiness.
1. Smiling can make you happy (even when you're not).
Remember that mind-body connection we were just talking about? Well, it turns out that the simple act of smiling sends a message to your brain that you're happy. And when you're happy, your body pumps out all kinds of feel-good endorphins. This reaction has been studied since the 1980s and has been proven a number of times. In 1984, an article in the journal Science showed that when people mimic different emotional expressions, their bodies produce physiological changes that reflect the emotion, too, such as changes in heart and breathing rate. Another German study found that people felt happy just by holding a small pen clenched in their teeth, imitating a smile.
Just remember that the research goes both ways. When the people in the first study frowned, they felt less happy, and in the German study, people who held a pen in their protruding lips, imitating a pout, felt unhappy. So the next time you feel sad or upset, try smiling. It just might make your body—and therefore you—feel better.
from:
http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/wellness_articles.asp?id=1529
7 good reasons to smile
