Just Smile: When Faith, Science, and Healing Meet

Photo by Katja Anokhina on Unsplash

I struggled to come out of the fog of sleep, searching for awakeness after a broken night’s rest.  Lying still with my eyes closed, my brain sorted through its daily reality check.  Sunday morning.  Church. Lunch with friends. Evening to relax.  Got it. 

But then the flood of anguishing memories from the previous week hit me. It would be an overcast day at best.

I pictured myself walking into church, locking eyes with a smiling friend, and bursting into tears.  The music would open the floodgates.  The sermon would surely hit the bullseye.  Should I just walk into church with a box of Kleenex? I quickly decided to tell Hubby we need to watch the livestream; I’m not in the mood to see smiling faces.

But then I remembered the chopsticks, and I smiled. 

The chopstick’s smile study was conducted in 2009 by Daniel Wiswede and his colleagues at the Otto-von Guericke Universität Magdeburg, in Magdeburg, Germany.  The researchers were trying to determine if the physical act of smiling had an effect on dopamine levels. Dopamine levels run parallel to mood. 

A person with low levels of dopamine may feel sad or depressed.  A person with excessively high levels of dopamine may be more aggressive and have trouble sleeping.  Maintaining a ‘normal’ level of this neurotransmitter helps with the regulation of a person’s generally happy mood.  

The Chopstick’s Study (as I will refer to it) had participants hold a chopstick horizontally between their teeth, thus forcing their face into a ‘smile’ position.  Other participants held a chopstick vertically by their upper lip, thus forcing their face into a ‘frown’ position. These people sat with a chopstick either horizontally or vertically in their mouths for five minutes.  The people with the horizontal chopstick between their teeth were found to have an elevated mood and higher dopamine levels. The mere act of smiling makes you feel happier!

An alternate study involving the Mirror Neuron System (MNS) was also referenced in the Chopstick’s Study literature. “Mirror neurons in the brain fire not only when the action is performed, but also when the action is observed.”  So if I am feeling blue, and someone smiles at me, happy neurological activity starts firing in my brain!

As a believer in Jesus, I not only have an MNS, but I also have an MJS (Mirror Jesus System)!  Of all the things God created, humans are the only ones created in His image.  We were made to reflect His glory.  If you are filled with the Holy Spirit, people see Jesus when they see you.  When you smile at someone, it causes the other person to smile back, thus releasing dopamine in their brain. Be a mirror of Jesus!

Hubby lovingly denied my request to watch the church livestream.  I gave myself a mental pep talk on the 23-minute drive to church, my purse loaded with Kleenex, just in case.

Stepping out of the car, a smile greeted me.  I mirrored.  Three more smiles were beamed in my direction.  I reflected.  By the time I sat down, I had been smiling nonstop for minutes.  The dopamine in my brain was flowing.  The dark cloud of the previous week had not gone away-

But my church family was there holding my umbrella.

Chopstick’s Study

First published in Pursuing Perfection on Substack by © Tessa Lind, tessalind.substack.com