Face is Not the Index of the Mind

‘Face is the index of the mind’ is an old proverb that has undergone a sea of change and in fact a metamorphosis in the modern world. It is true that your face reflects your mood.  When you are happy or joyful, your face radiates it and your activities are induced by your happy mood, through your smiles or laughs and through your intention to share and celebrate your happy mood with others; when you are sad or feel sorry, your mood is reflected by your dullness and rigidity, through the outburst of tears that you sheds, when you get isolated from the company of others and when you unusually resort to doping.

Though by nature, your face is endowed with or blessed with the ability of reflecting your feelings, it varies according to your age. When you are a baby or a child, your feelings are reflected quite naturally and also instantaneously get changed, when your mood is changed by the intervention of a third party. As you grow in age, you are somewhat slow in reacting to the given situation and so your face also reflects it slowly.

But in this modern world, due to various extraneous circumstances, you are forced to live rather mechanically or artificially; you are not living by your natural instincts, whether it be your home or it be your office.

When you are living at home in the company of your family members, say your wife and children, you are natural in your behavior with your spouse and so your face reflects it in a natural way according to your mood or feelings, when you are romantic or angry. But, as a responsible parent, your behavior pattern changes when you are dealing with your children. Even though, you are filled with full of love and affection for your children, your face does not overtly expose or express it, since you do not want to create an impression that you are too liberal towards them. Similarly, when you are in an embarrassing economic situation, through your sublime or subdued behavior, you do not want to get yourself exposed lest it will affect your family members. Therefore, it goes without saying, even among your family members, mostly you behave rather artificially and in your day to day life your face does not reflect what you actually feel and so your face is not the index of your mind.