by Chelsea Castner
Published March 7, 2013 in Beauty
In a recent issue of Self magazine I came across this fact: ”The physical act of smiling tricks your brain into thinking you’re more upbeat, which makes you feel peppier.” Sounds simple and obvious right? Well, unfortunately I had to learn this the hard way.
I like to think of myself as a positive person. Heck, even in my 8th grade yearbook I was given the ”Imagine if Chelsea Castner wasn’t optimistic” title. But I’ve recently come to learn how my outside Chelsea face doesn’t always match my inner Positive-Polly.
I’m a little embarrassed to share this, but I know you can only fix a problem by coming clean about it. Ever since I moved to New York City, while I’ve been out at the bars I have had multiple guys (total strangers) ask me why I look so upset. I cringed, not realizing what I looked like as I zoned out waiting for the bartender to finally acknowledge my presence. Even my boss, Mary Lou, said it took her a few months when I first started working to get used to my “Chelsea face.” A look, she says, where my eyes grow dark and more focused and my mouth tightens. To me, that sounded exactly like how I would describe somber, expressionless Kristen Stewart, and that was all I needed to hear. I appreciated the feedback and decided it was time to learn how I could make my expression express the real me.
In a recent yoga class the teacher opened with the topic of smiling from within. She said, if you just imagine yourself smiling, your outlook brightens, and with that so does your face. This wasn’t really new knowledge to me, because Tyra Banks has been telling me that for years. ”You need to smile from your eyes,” she would say from “America’s Next Top Model” judges’ table. But because I haven’t been walking down runways or posing in Self , I just filed the rule in my brain. But we are all models every moment of every day. Our bodies and expressions are representation of who we are.
The interesting thing about our own physical body, is that we spend far less time looking at it than the people around us do. Of course we all smile in pictures, and if you’re like me you have a “mirror face” you flash after finishing applying your makeup. But I don’t want my happy face to just appear in pictures on Facebook or Instagram, I want that look to be my “Chelsea face,” the one that carries me everywhere I go.
I suggest we all start working the office hallways like a runway. Smile with our eyes while we wait for our salad at the deli. And in those moments when you feel like chewing your stress ball to pieces, take a deep breath and imagine yourself smiling. I promise it will relax you.
We hear over and over again how a smile is our best accessory. So work it if you’re not working it yet, ladies. If you look it, you’ll feel it. Just please don’t take any pointers from K-Stew
Tags: For Women, Gen Y, generation y, Good Intentions, Just Ask a Woman, Marketing to Women, marketing with women in mind, Positive thinking, Self Magazine, Self-help, Smiling, Tyra Banks, working moms, Yoga
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