Best techniques to smile?

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What are your best techniques to accomplish a smile when you so desire?

Even if your neighbor drove over your cat while the girl next door went outside to check her mailbox at the same time. And you felt you had to smile to her.
I tried practice with the mirror, but it somehow doesn't feel right.

I say 'cheese'.

Corners of mouth go up...

I can recommend raising your eyebrows a little too. A smile just with the mouth looks weird and/or insincere. I smile a lot, because I'm often acknowledged by people at work or out and about with no idea who they are. Do they know me or not? A smile can be interpreted either way.

Smiles... I've practiced them a lot in front of the mirror. The problem with most people is that they only smile with their mouth, and not with their eyes. What I noticed from comparing fake smile with genuine smile photographies is that in the genuine ones, the ones at their picture raise their cheekbones and their lower eyelid a bit. You can see the difference in front of a mirror too.

You say it doesn't feel right... well, if that smile doesn't come from your heart, that's bound to happen. If your neighbor ran over your cat and you smiled, I'd bet that smile wouldn't feel right either, that's part of why practicing in front of the mirror works, you teach yourself to smile even when you don't feel like it.

Most of the time I just smile with the left side of my mouth for some reason. Habit, I suppose. I think this makes me look like like I'm either A) smug, or B) constantly pissed off. On the other hand, I am actually both of those things.

all i can do if i try to smile on command is produce an awkward grin; i look like a fool in all pictires i knew were taken (if it's a sneaky picture, i look better as i dont try to smile then).
if i really need to smile for something; all i can do is remember a very funny joke or situation, but that takes so much energy i can only use it if i get a profile/passport picture taken, i could not do this in a social situation

I just think of something I know makes me smile. Failing that, I don't smile.

If I don't really feel the smile, I can't really smile.. I've tried it in the mirror and it just looks scary to me.. I believe it is impossible to truly fake a smile

Usually the only time I smile is when I'm so amused that I can't fight it, haha. I just think that I look very awkward when I smile. I guess it's an insecurity.

I move my facial muscles into the appropriate expression.

I think of something I find amusing or incredibly fun.

Keep practising in the mirror. You can fake a genuine smile comfortably with enough practise. Most people don't bother, but as autistics we have a big advantage as we'll be putting in the hours anyway.

You have to remember the character you become when you smile in practise, and then become that character when you do it in the wild. If you aren't becoming a character it won't feel natural.

I'm the opposite. I'm always smiling. They called me smiley in school.
Problem is that sometimes I smile at inappropriate times.
There are serious times when I have to tell myself "whatever you do don't smile"

I don't know I have never really had a desire to smile, I mean I usually don't even think about what facial expression I have as half the time I don't even know.

I can't tell you how many times as a kid I heard, "Smile for the camera. Come on, smile!" I'm trying, damnit!

I can also relate on smiling at inappropriate times. I was watching the news one morning getting ready for school, when I heard the news say something about a murder by where my friend lived. They mentioned the victim's car, and showed a video of my friend's car . I smiled so hard it almost hurt, even though I was trying not to (the victim was girlfriend).

I felt really guilty about smiling, but I know it wasn't happiness that I was expressing. It just came out that way.

I use a pressing of my lips together, coupled with a closing of the eyes and a slight nod of the head.

I suppose it might look happy, but then again my eyes are closed when I do it so I'm unsure.