I should force myself to smile and make facial expressions

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ToughDiamond
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Joined: 15 Sep 2008
Age: 73
Gender: Male
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22 Jan 2010, 11:37 am

I've seen too many forced smiles to want to do the same thing myself. To me, they just look unnatural and suspicious. I read a book on photography once that said it's best never to ask the subject to smile because it won't look right - they recommended getting the subject to smile genuinely by amusing them in some way just before the shot.

Luckily I tend to smile a lot by nature....sometimes I'll seem to be smiling at somebody when really I've just remembered something funny and I'm smiling at that, or I might be smiling at the thought of forcing a smile - it's a bit deceptive of me, but in a world full of social faking, I suppose it's forgivable.

I tend to laugh inappropriately too - like if somebody says something that impresses me with its perceptiveness, I might laugh. I try to explain that I'm not laughing at them but just in appreciation of their idea, but I get a bit fed up with explaining it, so often I just hope that they won't get the wrong message.

My diagnostician said that throughout my interviews with her, I'd keep seeming to begin a smile and then stop it prematurely.....I had no idea I'd been doing that, so I probably don't know a lot about what my face does when I've got company.

Mostly what I really like is when I just find myself smiling at people because I'm happy to see them, without any attempt to consciously present anything. I often think that if only everybody stopped faking emotions, we'd have a better world. But there's the old saying: laugh and the world laughs with you, cry and you cry alone. I guess that's why people need to fake it. :(