It's Mind Over Matter
We were asked to read “Facial Expressions Help Create Moods They Show”, dated July 18, 1989, featuring Dr. Robert Zajonc and Dr. Henry Schutta. The article talks about the wonders behind facial expressions. It points out the fact that facial expressions are not just reflections of the actual feeling inside, but also, it adds more value to the feeling itself. The article also talks about the debates over the mechanisms that are involved in the theory about facial expressions. As for me, I do believe that just adjusting our facial muscles to a pattern of a given emotional expression will elicit that feeling.
Even before I came across this article, I’ve been living with the partial fact in my mind that facial expressions are not just mirror images of what we actually experience inside. They are kind of a partial cause of that feeling. While I was reading the article especially the part where Dr. Robert Zajonc stated his theory that facial expressions contribute to the actual emotion, I always nodded, indicating that I really agree with the idea. I then recalled my experiences wherein I made faces in front of the mirror and actually felt good when I displayed a smile, and a little bit bad when I displayed a frown. But when I reached the part where Dr. Henry Schutta opposed to the idea that I agreed on, I couldn’t help but furrow my eyebrows. And I felt bad. I’m not saying that he’s wrong though. I’m not so good with anatomy or physiology so I can’t find any corrections. I just didn’t like the idea that someone actually disagrees on the theory that I considered true. It’s because I’ve already had experiences on the former theory.
When I’m on my way to school every morning, I make it a habit to look at myself in the mirror and crack a smile. It’s not because I’m already happy that I display that facial expression. I just experiment on my face and see how I look. When the facial expression is done, I actually feel that my spirits are lifted up. And that’s carried all throughout the day. I actually don’t know the real reason behind this. But perhaps I could say that if it has nothing to do with the muscles in our faces, then it must be a mind-over-matter kind of thing. When we see ourselves smiling, we would think that we’re feeling good. And we would actually feel good! It would be the same case with frowning. We would feel bad because we think we’re feeling bad. That’s the power of our minds – defying reality.
So I guess the mind-over-matter attitude has gotten into me. I have no objections whatsoever so big of a deal to Dr. Zajonc’s theory. Dr. Schutta might have his point in opposing what Dr. Zajonc said but I think it just depends on the person’s point of view. However hard the public’s constructive criticisms might be to the theory that it may change my mind, I’m sure there would still be a part in me that would hold on to what I once believed in.
When I was still in nursery, I can’t wait to be in prep. Then I wanted to be in elementary. When I was already in elementary, I can’t wait for high school. And there, I’ve been so excited to go to college. At first, I didn’t know what to take up during college as I wasn’t really aware of what I wanted to become. And then, I wanted to take up a computer course. But choosing practicality, I took up Industrial Engineering instead because there are many opportunities for an IE graduate. But I’m not saying that there are no offers for those who didn’t take up IE though. In fact, there are still a lot of courses that could lead to a very good job. And one of those courses is that related to real estate investment. 
Name: Mikyu