Smile Mindfully: It's Good for Your Health

Babies smile - a lot. Beauty queens smile - on cue. Winners smile - most of the time, in between all that jumping and high-fiving. Smiles are a way of expressing our happiness, our joy, our pride, our gratitude.

More than that, smiles are a way of connecting, of saying - without words - I'm with you on this, I acknowledge you as a fellow human or a delightful animal or a beautiful flower, someone/something I'm in sync with.

All this you already know, but did you know that smiles are really good for your health and well-being? Researchers in the UK used electromagnetic brain scans and heart-rate monitors to measure the "mood-boosting values" for a variety of stimuli including sex, chocolate and money. Their findings are astounding: one single solitary smile can provide the same level of mood-enhancement as up to 2,000 chocolate bars, as stimulating as getting up to 16,000 pounds sterling (roughly $20,000), and smiles are more likely to produce a better short-term high than either sex or shopping!

So if your credit cards are maxing out - try smiling! If you're too hooked on chocolate - find something or someone to elicit a smile from you! Dogs always work for me. Of course so do flower, sunsets and Carol Burnett re-runs.

But here's the thing. We're not talking New Age feel-good stuff here. Smiling has well-documented physiological impact on your mind and body. For example, neurotransmitters relay messages to your body on how to respond and react, given various situations. Dopamine, endorphins and serotonin, known as the "feel-good" neurotransmitters, are all released from your brain into your body when you smile. Not only do these neurotransmitters relax you, and make you feel better emotionally, but they can also lower your heart rate and blood pressure - two significant contributors to your physical well-being. The very act of smiling makes us feel better, all around.

Children smile way more than adults do - the number most commonly given is 400 times a day. As compared to the happy adults 40-50 smiles per day, and average adults 20 smiles per day. Now you may say, well, gee, kids have a lot less worries, and thus a lot more to smile about. True. But just like anything else, you can get better at smiling with practice.

No, I don't mean to affix a phony smile to your face. You can't fool your brain, it knows the difference between the real thing and a fake. Rather, I mean to become more conscious about the many opportunities to smile that you now may let go by un-noticed.

You might think of it as smiling-mindfulness. Because that's really what it is. Becoming more mindful of occasions that - for you - genuinely merit a smile, and allowing yourself to indulge in that very life-enhancing act.

For example, the barista hands you your coffee: add a smile to your "thanks." As a matter of course, any time you say "thanks" or "thank you," add a smile! That includes when you thank spouses, significant others, children and other family members: too often we forget to smile at those closest to us.

Or, the sky is dotted with little puffy clouds, a sight which pleases you: smile. Someone's yard is awash in white roses, your fav: smile. The traffic eased up: smile! There are a gazillion opportunities to smile each and every day.

You may never make it up to the children's' 400-smiles-per-day mark, but for sure, your body and mind will most decidedly benefit from your increased smiles. What could be better?

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Elegant Tips for Learning How to Be More Organized

Are you an organized person or the opposite? Whatever category you fall in, this article gives you tips on how to get more organized both at home and office. Read on to find out.

Home Environment:

· Your children's stock of old books are probably occupying a whole lot of space in your home. They may have grown or already left for college. It's time to declutter them and contact places where old books are collected in your locality.

· Your own wardrobe is full of clothes that you no longer need or wear. Get rid of them and donate them to old clothes' home. Buy completely a new wardrobe of clothes. You will look good, feel good and feel confident.

· Your kitchen is a mess full of old tea pots, cups, saucers, cookers, frying pans etc. Again it's time to stop hoarding them and let go of them. Sure, they might contain lots of valuable memories, but how long will you hoard them? Simply let go, declutter and donate them away to the needy people in your area.

Doing the above three steps, you make space in your home. There is good aura and energy flow all around your home. You are able to do all the household work more mindfully, happily and even sleep better.

Work Environment:

· Keep your office desk neat and clean. Do not pile up books and paper clutter on your desk. Use the paper basket in your office to throw away all the paper clutter that you do not need and are unnecessarily occupying space on your desk.

· Keep your shelves organized with books. If you need one or two books to read, take them out from the shelf. Do not hoard them on you desk for too long. After one or two weeks, when you are done with them, put them back to their places in the shelf.

· Your locker is where you put your personal things like an extra pair of shoes, an extra set of clothes, umbrella etc. There may be several partitions inside and you may choose to put paper files on the top partitions. Keep these files updated with the stuff that are important and you need to refer. Otherwise old and useless documents can be thrown away. Ask somebody's help in this case if you are not sure of something.

Just like your home, your office is now organized with a good sense of aura and good energy flow. You are able to do your tasks more freely, prospectively and fruitfully.

Summing up, these are my tips to get organized at home and office so that your productivity is maximum, with you rising up to your full potential.

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Five Simple Rituals to Start Your Day Mindfully

"Make each day your masterpiece." John Wooden

I used to begin my day by pressing the snooze button about four times, scrolling through Instagram and email for a few minutes, dragging myself to the shower, smearing some makeup on my face and running out the door without breakfast. While it might have gotten me out the door in a timely manner, it did nothing for my mental well-being!

Recently I started to begin my day in a more mindful way. I've noticed that when I take time to center myself in the morning, that calm energy reverberates throughout the rest of my day. Morning self-care practices help us stay more calm, centered and focused. In turn, this helps us to be more efficient, effective and creative. Commit to at least one of the below rituals for thirty days and see if your mornings aren't completely transformed.

Below are 5 simple self-care rituals that you can easily integrate into your morning routine:

1. Intention Setting. Before I get out of bed or check my phone in the morning, I like to set an intention. "Intention setting" is different from goal setting. An intention is an expression of our soul's desire for that day. It could be something like: "Allow me to accept what life brings to me with equanimity and grace," "Allow me to make the time to be creative today" or "Provide me the space to take life less seriously today."

2. Meditation. I've found nothing more effective to start my day off on a positive note than the practice of meditation. Meditation also has a cumulative effect: the more often you practice, the greater the results. A daily meditation practice has helped me cultivate inner-peace and has given me more access to my creativity.

3. Gratitude. A gratitude list is a great way to both start and end your day. Making the time to jot down three things that you're grateful for every morning is a quick and easy way to connect with your higher self. There is even a journal specifically formatted for writing daily gratitude lists. It's called The Five Minute Journal and I highly recommend it if you're someone who would like to start a gratitude journal but have never done so before.

4. Affirmation cards. I am a huge fan of affirmation cards. Many "self-help gurus" make them, but my favorites are Louise Hay's Power Thought Cards. Every morning, after my meditation, I like to hold these cards in my hands and ask that I be guided to pick a card that will serve me today. I then close my eyes and shuffle the cards until I feel moved to stop. I pick one out of the deck, open my eyes and read the card. One of things that I like most about these cards is that unlike Tarot Cards, all of the cards in this deck are positive and inspirational.

5. Mindful Eating. Many of us don't take the time in the morning to sit down for five to ten minutes and simply eat our breakfast. And even if we do, it's often in front of the computer or our smartphone. It's a gift to your body and mind to eat mindfully and simply focus on the action of chewing before getting caught up in the daily rat race. We place a huge value on multi-tasking in our culture, but there are enormous mental benefits to single-tasting.

While you often can't control the events in your life, you can help yourself approach your day with some self-care. If we start our day mindfully, we have a much better chance of staying centered no matter what the day brings.

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