How can i stop smiling

You may not be able to plan for this, since triggering situations tend to be unpredictable. However, you need to practice in real situations in order to fully develop your new habit. You can replay a real-life scenario by yourself later, if you want to practice responding differently than you did.

Choose a different behavior if you need to. Not all replacement behaviors will work for you. Practice it at home and in real scenarios, too. Part 3. Rewards are an important part of changing habits. You need to reward yourself every time you do a good job controlling your smile. Physically pat yourself on the back. You can give yourself a more tangible reward, if you like. You can take yourself out for a nice meal or buy yourself something as a gift.

Stay positive even if you mess up. No one is going to change their habits perfectly right off the bat. Continue to practice until you successfully change your habit. There are conflicting thoughts on how long it takes to break and reform habits. It may take anywhere from three weeks to three months of consistent work. Let yourself smile when it is appropriate. Make sure you keep allowing yourself to smile when you actually should!

Smiling is a huge way that people convey comfort, affection, and attraction. However, if it would be okay for them to think that you like them, let yourself smile! They will likely feel more comfortable around you. Even in difficult situations, smiling and laughing are ways people often deal with grief and trauma.

Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. Helpful 7 Not Helpful 1. Helpful 7 Not Helpful 0. Smiling inappropriately can also be a symptom of having had a stroke, or being on the autism spectrum.

If someone you know smiles at what seems like the wrong time, there may be a clinical reason for it. Helpful 17 Not Helpful 3. Related wikiHows How to. How to. About This Article. Co-authored by:. Paul Chernyak, LPC. For starters, you can imagine someone you like, or who makes you laugh, behind the camera. These psychological components, combined with learning how to control the movement of your face, might help you get a little better at smiling on command.

Alternatively, you can wear a manic exaggerated grimace every time. Problem solved. The A. Social GPS. By Sam Blum. Photo: pathdoc Shutterstock. Practice what you'll say. If you have a hard time keeping a straight face when you're telling a joke or playing a game, practice ahead of time.

Practice the joke over and over so you can keep your face straight when you tell it. You can also practice things to talk about during a game to distract yourself and keep a good poker face. If you're trying to distract yourself during a game, talk about something completely unrelated to it. For example, if you're playing poker, don't talk about other poker games you've played. Instead, you can talk about what's going on at work or something that happened while you were at the store.

Thinking about your own past gets your mind off the present and helps you control your face. For example, if someone is telling you an embarrassing story that you can tell hurts them a bit, share your own embarrassing story. It not only stops you from laughing, but it can also help the other person feel better about their own experience.

Usually, if you're trying not to laugh, there are a few ways to achieve it. You can bite down on the inside of your cheek until the urge to laugh goes away. Or you can try to convince yourself that you're delivering bad news until you get to the punch line or the end of the joke.

Not Helpful 28 Helpful Try discreetly pinching or scratching yourself, and focusing on the feeling of the pinch or scratch instead of the feeling of being tickled. Not Helpful 33 Helpful Think about something else, something funny or odd. Do not think of cute, sweet or sad things, as these can just add to the feelings of wanting to cry. If it's inevitable, pretend to trip and say that you hit your hand against something and it really hurts and rub it a lot. Not Helpful 21 Helpful You can try pressing your teeth down really hard and that should help you not to laugh.

Not Helpful 13 Helpful Think about how much worse your punishment will be if you don't look like you're taking the situation seriously.

Imagine yourself grounded or sent to your room without your devices and how bored you'd be. Not Helpful 32 Helpful Think about how bad the situation is or think of a situation that makes you not smile. Not Helpful 15 Helpful Don't think about the joke while saying it. Think about the facts behind it, like what makes it funny. Basically, take the "fun" out of it.

Not Helpful 36 Helpful Try to imagine yourself in their situation. Think of how embarrassed you would be and it'll help you control yourself. Not Helpful 34 Helpful It depends on the situation. For example, if you are crying because you have stage fright, try to pretend that your audience is not there, or something funny--like pumpkins or chickens. If you are crying because of an act, try to think of something funny instead.

Not Helpful 27 Helpful What to do if nothing sad thing happened in my past?