DON'T FOLLOW YOUR HEART As someone who finds it annoying to be told to smile, I am not particularly delighted to open with this case study. However, The Many Smiles Collaboration gets the point across. Amassing responses from 3,878 participants across 19 countries, the international project uncovered that even posed smiles can make us happier.
Stanford research scientist Nicholas Coles tracked noticeable mood improvement in the group instructed to mimic smiling photographs. Or simply, literally direct their mouth toward their ears. Meaning without necessarily occupying a joyful internal state, a forced grin can mechanically override emotions positively.
It’s pretty much the reverse of thinking you’re going to have a bad day, and eventually having one. Unfortunately, a less lighthearted result is rampant in the trend where youths self-diagnose with Dr TikTok. We also observe a larger impact in the realm of mental health.
Strange, when MRI data from Framingham Heart Study shows brain volume and intellectual growth over recent generations (you can thank better nutrition, healthcare and education). Perhaps we are reading into syndrome descriptions the way teens do with horoscopes.
Can’t concentrate? Congratulations, you have ADHD. Feel a little blue? Congratulations, you have depression. Don’t forget to add ‘severe’ in front of those terms. Funny how we subscribe to “attracting what you want from the universe”, but underestimate the extent of a negative self-fulfilling prophecy.
One recorded phenomenon is the Medical Student’s Disease, where many aspiring health practitioners interpret normal bodily sensations as symptoms of the illnesses they have been studying. Not all ailments are nocebos (placebo’s bad bro), but feelings are possibly our most inaccurate measurement of reality.
Recall how self-conscious you felt in adolescence, only to later realise everyone else was too busy feeling the same way to even pay attention. If you prefer a physical example: the remnant sway of choppy waters after stepping off the boat onto stable ground.
It is currently popular to act according to what you feel... with some inconsistent exceptions. You may regard yourself a therian (or otherkin, since we’re already here); but God forbid you feel like you were born in the wrong race. Even though your actual experience as an animal or a person of different skin equally amounts to zero.
Presently, a 50-year-old man can be a woman, but not a 21-year-old boy; even if he already acts like the latter. When a grown man unintentionally identifies as a manchild and shacks up with girls, it used to be called grooming. Cop the rebrand: Minor Attracted Persons. How dare you call them pedophiles, you bigot! Don’t you know that their affections towards the pre-pubescent are so very real and everyone has the right to live out their truth?
I’ll leave you with a little musing courtesy of YouTuber Johnny Chang. Humans are biologically hardwired for self-preservation. Fight or flight is an inherent instinct in the face of danger. Oddly enough, consider the contrast of your intrusive thoughts. When staring down a tall building, or alone late nights. Follow the train of thought and see whether your heart deceives you.
