Facial expressions

Our Magic Mirror

It’s true what they say about the eyes being the windows to the soul and the face being the mirror, a glimpse into what is happening in our minds and bodies. I’m still reading Malcolm Gladwell’s book Blink, and one passage really struck home for me.

The author recounts an experiment where researchers measured a person’s facial muscles while they experienced emotional states such as sadness, desire, horror and lust – then had actors do the same thing. What surprised the scientists was that physiologically there were no differences between the two groups – the somatic response was identical as if they were really experiencing these emotional states. This illustrates a long held belief that how we hold our face can affect our moods, and that something almost unconscious such as our emotional states can be influenced by the power of awareness.

What pray tell, you may be asking, does this have to do with our erotic bodies??? Few men, if ever, question how they attract another with their face, their eyes. How is this done? Do we scrunch up our eyes, wink, raise and lower our eyebrows several times?? Stare a lot (yikes)? In the 70′s it was common to do just that – often men would have sexual encounters without a word spoken. Guys would cruise each other, conveying interest using the eyes and facial muscles and perhaps a crotch grope or two and SCORE! It is much more common now to chat a man up, perhaps out of necessity safety-wise.

So the next time you are not feeling into your erotic body, try turning yourself on a few times in the mirror and see how you feel.