How I got myself to smile all the time

NOTE THIS TAKES WILLPOWER ON THE PERSON DOING THEIR PART

I did smile a little in the past, but I worked on myself enough that I was able to make a noticeable difference that a cousin of mine commented on my improvement.

I was going through some hard times.  I wanted to be in a different enviorment, one where I would have more of an oppurtunity to learn about my Jewish heritage (because I realized Hebrew school taught me nothing)).  But then I realized why I was feeling so bad.  I was focusing on the negatives in my lifes and not on the positives.  I worked on being more grateful and started a gratitude journal.

Becoming interested in a Rabbi Nachman of Breslov I took to heart a saying he said "It is a big commandment to be happy all the time".  So I took another statement of a rabbi (the Rambam) "That your outsides (body) can affect your heart", so I decided to get myself to smile all the time.  I just concisously worked to keep myself smiling, and it became a habit.

Although someone commented that it requires a fake smile, it is a lot like doing acts of kindness the more you do the kinder a person you pottentialy can become.  The happiness that a smile generates in you does become a part of who you are.

NOTE THIS TAKES A LOT OF EFFORT