Your resting face (aka neutral face or default face) is simply the natural, relaxed expression your face settles into when you’re not actively smiling, frowning, talking, or showing any particular emotion. Scientists call it your baseline display facial affect, the configuration your facial muscles settle into at rest.
Your resting face is determined by multiple factors including your bone structure, your muscle tone… and your repeated emotional states, the feels you experience most often. Expressions and emotions reinforce each other and over the years, your face ‘learns’ default settings. In effect, your resting face is partly a fossil record of your repeated emotional patterns.
I’ve always been a Radiant Optimist and a firm believer in having an Attitude of Gratitude and the Habit of Happiness. Since Attitudes are Contagious, I always wanted to have an upbeat, energetic, enthusiastic attitude, I wanted to be the kind of person I wanted to be around. I like to smile; it improves my mood and hopefully those I meet as well. The end result is that by and large, my resting face tends toward being a smiling face.
Closing Quotes:
“Smile, it’s free therapy.” – Douglas Horton, 1891-1968
“A smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks.” – Charles Gordy
“A smile is a curve that sets everything straight.” – Phyllis Diller, 1917-2012
“Smile in the mirror. Do that every morning and you’ll start to see a big difference in your life.” – Maya Angelou, 1928-2014, ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’
“Actions speak louder than words, and a smile says, ‘I like you. You make me happy. I am glad to see you.’” – Dale Carnegie, 1888-1955, ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’
As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier
Note: Every effort has been made to properly source any 3rd person material. I am, however, a voracious reader. If anyone finds any unattributed material, pls let me know asap and I will be delighted to give credit where credit is due.
“All intelligent thoughts have already been thought; what is necessary is only to try to think them again.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832
