A Message from Dr. B (Linda Paulk Buchanan): One of my favorite mindful strategies is the half smile (Linehan, 1993). One day when my two boys were about 2 and 3 ½ years old, they were jumping on the furniture. I had been teaching them that they weren’t supposed to and they were doing it anyway. I started to lose my temper but for some reason decided at that moment to use the half-smile technique in an attempt to manage my emotion. I turned my back to them for a moment to smooth out the look of anger and replace it with a half-smile and then turned back to face them. I was shocked at how my perception changed! Instead of two little hellions, I saw them as the two adorable boys that they were, doing typical boy stuff. I then was able to correct their behavior with patience instead of yelling. The change in my affect was so extreme that it actually took my breath away.
So basically, half smile is based on the idea that the muscles in your face are connected to your brain in such a way that they communicate to your brain about what is happening. We all know that if we have a sad thought it usually produces a sad expression but what we don’t realize is that it can work the other way as well. If we have a sad expression, it can produce sad thoughts. A half smile is not a huge grin but rather an open, pleasant expression like the one you might have when watching a puppy. Try it now. Put a sad or mad expression on your face and see what type of thoughts you become aware of. Then smooth this expression out into a half smile and notice your thoughts.
So basically, half smile is based on the idea that the muscles in your face are connected to your brain in such a way that they communicate to your brain about what is happening. We all know that if we have a sad thought it usually produces a sad expression but what we don’t realize is that it can work the other way as well. If we have a sad expression, it can produce sad thoughts. A half smile is not a huge grin but rather an open, pleasant expression like the one you might have when watching a puppy. Try it now. Put a sad or mad expression on your face and see what type of thoughts you become aware of. Then smooth this expression out into a half smile and notice your thoughts.
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