A true tale of an improbable anxiety-relieving trick

I did something funky last week to alleviate a gnawing anxiety – 
the Stage 1 type of fretting that must be caught early to eradicate – I twitched my facial muscles in an epileptic dance of eyebrows and lips and nose and forehead and cheeks. Suddenly. As if pygmy darts were shooting into every facial muscle in rapid sequence.

The idea came to me and I executed it within the same nano-second 
– for just a minute all over, and immediately felt better.

Resoundingly better, as if the growing unease had been erased from consciousness. I was left with a slightly loopy grin.

Somehow, firing all those bio-impulses short-circuited anxiety mode.

Don’t know why I did it either. Had the idea and began its execution in half a second. I didn’t wait to think it out, which is what saved me from mentally going nawwwww, couldn’t possibly work, it’s too silly.

I’ve read – as you may have – that actions such as smiling elevate your mood. Maybe my demi-consciousness seized upon that idea to the nth degree, figuring, if you fire all those muscles randomly and excitedly the goofiness alone is bound to lift you up. 

It did. The day and my work went swimmingly.