You’ve heard it many times, in many different places: It’s hard to feel bad when smiling. So if you want to feel better, they say, smile first and good feelings will follow.

It’s easy to say, but much harder to actually do, especially if you consider yourself  “honest” about your feelings. Also, even personal development junkies get into bad moods, and for some reason it’s very tempting to stay in them. (Do you know why? Tell me in the comments!)

As it turns out, there’s a scientific reason that forcing a smile can help you pull yourself out of an unproductive quagmire of self-pity (relax–it happens to all of us).

In his book Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind Gary Marcus explains that our memories are very dependant on context. We remember things mostly based on other things surrounding them, hence the term “contextual memory”. 

He details a study in which two groups of participants were asked to watch a cartoon while holding pencils in their mouths. One group was told to hold the pencil with their lips closed around it. The other group watched the cartoon with the pencil between their teeth, lips open and not touching the pencil.

When surveyed afterwards, the open-lipped people had enjoyed the cartoon more than the closed-lipped people. Why? Get a pencil, and try holding it between your teeth, without touching it with your lips.

Unbeknownst to them, the brains of the people who held their lips open reacted in a positive way to the corners of their mouths being turned upwards.

This same principle applies to standing up straight and holding your head high, even when you’re not feeling happy or confident. Your brain remembers how your body is when you’re happy. You can actually trick yourself into feeling good by acting like you do, and sending those signals to your brain.

You’ll probably get alot more accomplished if you do. So hold your head high, and smile! If you don’t feel like it, you will in a minute.