Short motivational monologue by Dr. Arthur Brooks (YouTube) advising listeners to change feelings by changing behavior: pretend gratitude (say "thank you"), force a Duchenne-like smile (put a pencil in your molars) to trick the brain into feeling happier within ~30 seconds, and "act the way you want to feel" — become the person you want to be — especially during a period of social polarization.
If you want to do something and you don't feel like it, the best way for you to actually do it is to pretend that you feel it and act the way you want to feel. That actually works. If you're really, really ungrateful, which is the state of nature. We're made to be resentful, not grateful. Pretend you're grateful by saying thank you, and you will start to feel it. You can actually literally change your brain toward greater happiness, but by smiling as if you were happy. The way that you do this, if you're not feeling happy, is take a pencil and put it in your mouth, lengthwise in your molars, clamp down on the molars and look in the mirror, and your eyes will go into the Duchenne smile, which within 30 seconds will make you feel happy because you fooled your brain. So what I'm going to ask you to do in this period of incredible polarization, become the person you want to be by acting like the person you want to be.
