It is said “Face is the index of the mind and Eyes are the mirror of the soul.

Psychologists have identified a gamut of emotions which we portray with our facial expressions: Happy, Sad, Fearful, Angry, Surprised, Disgusted, happily surprised, Happily disgusted, Sadly fearful, Sadly angry, Sadly surprised, Sadly disgusted, Fearfully angry, Fearfully surprised, Fearfully disgusted. Facial expressions are vital in the communication process as they support our positive or negative views which help us to send and receive to understand the message. Our face is the organ of emotion and identity. We constantly read facial expressions to understand what others are feeling. The face also controls other powerful clues. Our identity is captured in our features, and our eyes which disclose important truths about us, even those which we like to hide.

It is difficult to control our emotions; our eyes tell it all. Our eyes express our feelings. They express our state of mind. Our eyes tell our physical and mental health. Eyes soften in love, they tell when we are happy or sad, they harden with anger, widen we are in fear, narrow when we suspect something, roll in frustration, look down or look nowhere when we are bored.

Some people find it very easy to express their emotions, whereas others are hesitant or unable to let anyone know how they feel. Some are reserved or slow to open, they are an introverted personality. Research shows that extroverts are more expressive and ready to talk instantly. Carl Jung the man who coined the concept introvert and extrovert personality said that introverts get habituated to control even their facial expressions.  

There is concept in movie making business which is called ‘Fourth Wall’. It is the space that separates the performer from the audience. Generally, in movies the characters talk to each other, express to each other on screen. This separates them from the audience; there is an invisible wall between the actors and the audience. To maintain the illusion of reality the actors must act as though the audience don’t exist. If an actor looks directly at the camera, it destroys the illusion.

But there is another concept ‘breaking the fourth wall’ I give here an example what it means breaking the fourth wall – in the movie ‘Kal hon a ho’ characters talk to the audience at various points in the film. Naina (Preity Zinta) talks to the audience about her family and her problems. Later, the other characters also get an opportunity to speak to the audience. When Aman (Shahrukh Khan) asks Naina the last time she smiled, all the other people tell us the last time they saw Naina smile. At a later stage, the people in the film told the audience the meaning of love. All these moments were done in a way that felt fresh at that time and stayed in minds of the audience.  This is an interesting way to get audiences to connect with characters. We appreciate expressive actors and actresses in movies and drams. Expressive actors use their eyes to fullest scope. Dev Anand, Nutan and Sanjiv Kumar were known for their acting prowess and expressing their feelings through eyes.  

Face is the primary channel through which emotions are expressed. By decoding facial signals, observers can understand an expresser’s emotion. Psychologists found that many facial expressions are natural and not visually learned. David Matsumoto says that spontaneously produced facial expressions of emotion of blind, deaf, dumb, and sighted and normal individuals are the same.

David Matsumoto is a renowned expert in the field of micro expressions, Director of Humintell LLC, a company that provides training to individuals and organizations in the field of law and order, is a world-renowned expert in the fields of emotion, nonverbal behaviour, deception, and culture. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan in 1981, he majored in psychology and Japanese and received High Honors in both. A micro expression is a facial expression that only lasts for few seconds.

Matsumoto says when a person is angry, vertical lines appear between the eyebrows. Lower lip is strained. Eyes are in hard stare or bulging. Lips can be pressed firmly together, with corners down, or in a square shape as if shouting. Microfacial expressions of emotion have been considered a reliable indicator of dishonesty for decades.  Micro-expressions can reflect an individual’s subjective emotions and true mental state and the study is widely used in the fields of mental health, justice, law enforcement, intelligence, and security. 

Conclusion

Face is an index of our inner world; it conveys countless emotions without saying a word. Some people talk very little and believe in nonverbal communication. And the biggest truth is facial expressions are universal they are the same in all religions; a smile serves to be a universal language that connects people of all cultures and civilizations.

Why has Mona Lisa’s painting remained so famous? It is five centuries old, but it is a favorite painting of all times. I think the probable answer is her inimitable smile. A simple smile can break barriers; it can prevent apprehensions, misunderstanding, ease tensions, create acquaintance, improve mental, physical, emotional & spiritual well-being, improve social conditions, give a feeling of sincerity and care all of this leading to goodness. It is so easy to smile, but we make the process difficult.

Psychiatrists suggest nervous and tense patients to smile more often. However fast fashions and styles may change, a genuine smile will never go out of style. Do you agree? And, each person has a different smile, because each one has a different motive and cause to smile. A smile can brighten people’s day in a second, it makes the receiver appreciate and acknowledge you instantaneously. It is not less than an act of worship. Keeps you face illuminated with a constant smile & see how your life changes! Yes, It changes your destiny.

One simple smile has the power to calm fear, insecurity, hurt, and anxiety. It has the power within it to change the world because smiles can be shared. They are contagious. When you smile at another person you pass all the wonderful benefits of smiling on to that person. In the worst of situations in life, some people have that beautiful smile with which they can ease tension of the situation. One of aunts had this cute smile, she had to struggle hell of a lot, but she always won all those scuffles and skirmishes in her life with her sporadic smile. I think she got life’s courage because of smiling. She would visit the neighboring houses in their times of grief, she could console people with her magic touch and her curing smile. I believe that it’s during tough times a resolute smile is needed the most. In a grim atmosphere you need a person who can lighten the moment with an assuring smile.

There have been many interesting studies conducted over the past few years which speak of the magic and power of a smile. The human brain has two circuits for controlling smiles. The cerebral cortex controls the conscious smile while the deep, primitive brain structure handles the expression of emotions. Do you know the drop-jaw smile is an exaggeration due to the jaw being lowered? This type of smile is commonly seen among public figures when giving speeches or at press conferences. Those public figures include politician and celebrities, who understand the importance of laughter. This is an enforced smile to keep the crowd in control.

The extension of this smile technique to win over people quickly is the turn-away smile – as the individual also comes across as youthful, playful and creative. It is actually a hybrid expression where the smile signals welcome, whereas the motion of turning away gives the signal of evasion. To illustrate, most men cannot resist if a women smiles coyly in their directions. Also, when a female gives the turn-away smile, it invokes parental male feelings, making men want to protect and care for the female. Some actresses are quite adept at using this technique to captivate the hearts of fans.

What do understand when a person gives you a close-lipped smile? In which the teeth aren’t displayed. This smile portrays that the person is hiding something from you. So when a mischievous child gives this smile it for sure that he is hiding something from you. If your friend gives you the closed-lip smile, the clear message is that although your friend is happy chatting with you, he is not telling you the whole thing. He/she is not revealing the truth as it is.

When the tips of the lips are stretched without the teeth exposed, such a smile shows the harboring of a secret. It shows resentment in attitude. It also projects the person’s unwillingness to talk any further. When a person does not want to share personal information with you he/she is ought to give you a tight-lipped smile. The tight-lipped smile also evokes mystery and can be often seen in magazine pictures of successful politicians and businessmen. The picture clearly reveals they aren’t disclosing any of their key secrets; they are sharing in the interview only the broad principles for success.

A twisted smile or a lopsided smile –  it appears when one side of the lip moves upwards and the other side slants down causing the mouth to move in opposite directions and ending up in what seems to be a twist. This smile is interpreted as expressing mixed emotions. It projects sadness, worry or uneasiness, contrasted by the upward tilt which says that person is ready to discuss, he is in an amicable mood to talk and is not angry. To sum up, the lopsided smile signals various messages that can range from sarcasm or humiliation to biting wit.

A forced smile looks artificial and unnatural. This can be noticed specially when eyes are not engaged with mouth; resulting in the eyes looking dull or lacking energy. The phony smile gives the impression that we do not mean what we are saying – and it evokes a response of dislike of interest in social bonding.

But a genuine smile encourages others to smile back and convey an honest emotion because when we are smiling, we feel happier and this happiness is communicated to others. You will see the infants have a genuine smile.

And a scorn is an act of contempt; it shows someone being rude and reflects the lack of caring and empathy on the part of the person doing the sneering. During police interviews, for example, you will see a sneer on the faces of criminals.

So friends, different smiles have different interpretations. Smiles express a lot of unsaid emotions of people. But I am advocating importance of genuine smile at this point. A single smile, and how something so seemingly simple and effortless can inspire, affect, and set the attitude of a person’s day. A smile breaks down barriers, it diffuses tense or litigious situations, it fosters positive intent, and it inspires a child’s, parent’s, a patient’s, a student’s or colleague’s perception. A smile says the lot of who you are. It is one of the most powerful gifts that you can give to another person. That one simple gesture has the ability to lift another into a feeling of intense enjoyment, erase loneliness, and remove physical and emotional pain. It is an expression of courage and good will.

You have the power within you to create a smile. It is very powerful and doesn’t cost anything.  Whenever you smile at someone else they are very likely to start smiling too because a smile is infectious. Try it. Tilt up the corner of your lips at someone on the street, in a lift, in a bazaar, a mall, in hospital at the patients on the bed, in a professional meet, in a lecture hall anywhere…. and the chances are that you will make that person grin back at you.  It will raise a wave of happiness, energize the being. Maybe for a little while all their physical and emotional aches and pains will miraculously go away.

Humor is defined as “the tendency of particular cognitive responses to provoke laughter, physical reaction, and provide amusement.” It is experienced across all ages and cultures. It covers any human communication which makes people laugh or feel happy.

Humor is infectious. When your see people with roaring laughter, automatically we tend to have a smile. The contagiousness of laughter is truly positive; laughter has no caste, creed, and religion. It binds people. It helps you feel better and helping you bounce back. A home where the family shares laughter, enjoys joyful moments is a closely-knit and engaging family. It seems if you have pets at home, when you are happy, laughing your pets also enjoy – that’s the impact of laughter and humor. A good sense of humor, a positive attitude, and the support of friends and family plays a positive role in leading life successfully. Laughter also triggers healthy physical changes in the body. Humor and laughter strengthen your immune system, boost your energy, diminish pain, and protect you from the damaging effects of stress. Best of all, this priceless medicine is fun, free, and easy to use. It is the ability or quality of people, objects or situations to summon feelings of amusement in other people.

Most importantly, if you can work on activating your sense of humor along with laughter, it is of tremendous use to protect health of your heart.  According to a recent research by cardiologists at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, which in fact is the first one to indicate that laughter may help avert heart disease, the study found that people with heart disease were 40 percent less likely to laugh in a variety of situations compared to people of the same age without heart disease.

The study compared the humor responses of 300 people. Half of the participants had either suffered a heart attack or undergone coronary artery bypass surgery. The other 150 did not have heart disease. One questionnaire had a series of multiple-choice answers to find out how much or how little people laughed in certain situations, and the second one used true or false answers to measure anger and hostility. The most significant study finding was that people with heart disease responded less humorously to everyday life situations. They generally laughed less, even in positive situations, and they displayed more anger and hostility.

Who doesn’t enjoy a great laugh whenever possible? Laughter is a great healer and one of the most positive and rejuvenating human emotions.  It calms our nerves, reduce tension and stimulate creativity.

Many researchers including Drs. Lee Berk and Stanley Tan have studied the therapeutic benefits of laughter and humor. Laughter lowers blood pressure, reduces stress hormones such as epinephrine and cortisol which narrow blood vessels, improves cardiovascular health by increasing the body’s ability to use oxygen, reduces anxiety, relaxes muscles, strengthens the immune system, releases endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers. Apart from the significant medical benefits of laughter, all of us enjoy being around people who make us laugh. We all love watching comic films, cartoons again and again simply because they help us relieve stress, and they brighten our day.

Mankind is ignorant about the purpose and meaning of laughter, and there is bliss in this ignorance. We laugh at just the right times, without consciously knowing why we do it. Most people think of laughter as a simple response to comedy, or an energizing mood-lifter. It is an instinctive behavior programmed by our genes. One of the remarkable things about laughter is that it occurs unconsciously. You don’t decide to do it. While we can consciously inhibit it, we can’t consciously produce laughter. That’s why it’s very hard to laugh on command; for that matter fake laughter is very difficult

Very little is known about the specific brain mechanisms responsible for laughter. But we do know that laughter is triggered by many sensations and thoughts, and that it activates many parts of the body.

People who can laugh at themselves or at their situation are usually more flexible when problems arise. Because they are able to see the lighter side of a difficulty, they are better equipped in putting their problems in the right perspective.

Do you know the first laughter appears at about 3.5 to 4 months of age, long before we’re able to speak; laughter, like crying, is a way for a preverbal infant to interact with the mother and other caregivers.

A teacher with a sense of humor is more appreciated by the students than serious teachers.  And, teacher who can add humor even to serious topics can handle the class without boring the students besides, the topic will be memorized better by the students. A teacher with a sense of humor sends an indirect message to students that he or she is enthusiastic about teaching; therefore, it becomes a positive force in the field of teaching-learning. Students remember those topics whether serious, boring, unexciting, dull, edgy etc with a pleasure. I think sense of humor is one of the most valuable resources a teacher can use in the classroom because it makes the classroom session enjoyable.

Why only teachers, don’t we all love our doctor, our lawyer, and our chartered accountant, every professional or not so professional people to have a good sense of humor? Instead of telling how serious our problems are, if these people can add little humor – the serious problems can be handled calmly. In marriage, if one partner has sense of humor, the marriage strengthens the bond between two partners; also both partners have lesser health issues.

Another thing about laughter is instead of laughing alone, or if watching a comedy film alone has its benefits, watching it with group of friends is more beneficial. In a group, laughter becomes contagious and lasts much longer than when you laugh by yourself.

Last but not least, life is not serious, we are serious. Many philosophers have said that if you can’t laugh, however rich you are, you are bankrupt. Intensity, deliberation, concentration, focus are not words synonymous to seriousness. Please realize seriousness never allows bringing out the best in us. It kills our enthusiasm, our passion, our creativity – thus killing the charm of doing a good job. Seriousness shallows our ability. Be cheerful if you want to achieve the best.

It seems, chimpanzees can share a joke just like any human but they are also capable of sharing a laugh even when they don’t find something particularly funny, scientists have discovered. A study was conducted in at Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage in Zambia. The study examined laughter in 59 wild chimpanzees and has found that laughter occurs not just when chimps are having fun but also when they want to promote some kind of social bonding; like human smile at each other to improve bonding and further a conversation. Now isn’t this amazing?

Therefore, friends just laugh, there is humor all over the place, I think laughter is a wonderful natural tranquilizer, use it in abundance.