Want More Happiness? The Secret is in Your Smile!

I awoke this morning with smiling on my mind? Why? I have no idea. But there it was. 

I visited Dr. Google and entered the search term, "physiological effects of a smile". The lead "best answer" reads,

"Each time you smile, you throw a little feel-good party in your brain. The act of smiling activates neural messaging that benefits your health and happiness... The feel-good neurotransmitters - dopamine, endorphins and serotonin - are all released when a smile flashes across your face as well...". Citation: "There's Magic in Your Smile - How Smiling Affects Your Brain"; http://bit.ly/2mEtrtq.

Google suggested other related searches to include: "how smiling affects those around you", "why smiling is contagious", and, "science of smiling".

There are thousands upon thousands of studies and posts attesting to the emotional and health benefits of smiling.

One Big Mistake

One mistake we could make is concluding all smiles are equal. If we "fake it until we make it" we're shortchanging our selves and those we talk with.

While you may get some benefits with a "fake it" approach, you won't maximize the emotional and health enhancing improvements waiting for you when you make true genuine smiling a part of your daily routine.

But what if I don't feel like smiling? What if I can't think of a thing to smile about?

Yes, adversity can hijack the best of positive intentions. Bad things happen. But there is a bigger truth that extends beyond the challenges of the day: 

There is ALWAYS something to smile about. 

If you're alive; if you're breathing; if you have food, water, and shelter, you have reasons to smile.

Here's how to create a true, genuine smile on demand. Before you know it, smiling will be second nature.

How to Create a Genuine Smile

Allow a relaxing breath and bring to mind an image, a memory of a special person, pet, or situation that creates positive feelings. Examples could include, holding an infant, walking on the beach, interacting with a pet, or simply enjoying time with someone special.

• Bring that memory to mind and make it big, bold, and bright.

• While experiencing that memory, allow your attention drift to your body. Feel the positive sensations; really connect with those good vibrations. Where are they in your body? Allow the felt senses to expand.

• As you're recalling that memory and feeling the sensations that memory creates, notice you're smiling. Let that smile grow bigger.

• Stay with those beautiful feelings and that joyful smile for 20 to 30 seconds or even longer.

Guess what? You have changed your body, brain, and mind for the better. Do this before talking to others and notice they too will smile. Smiles are contagious! You're a carrier of one of the most beneficial viruses on our planet.

Try this smile creation protocol before your next telephone call, business meeting, or conversation with a friend or significant other. It takes only two or three seconds. As you practice, it will take only a millisecond to change your mood and mind. 

Remember, your positive energy and lovely smile is the gift that keeps on giving.

My Creating Smiles Experience

One of my podcasts is, "Make the World a Better Place". In the episode linked below, I share my unscientific experiment to see if I could help others to smile, more studies about the positive power of smiling, and how advice I received more than 50 years ago about selling with smile changed my life forever.

Click the player below to listen. It's only a few minutes, but I have no doubt you'll find something to smile about!

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Click here to listen to the podcast episode if you don't see a player:

https://anchor.fm/make-the-world-a-better-place/episodes/Want-More-Happiness--The-Secret-is-In-Your-Smile-e1rps7/a-a4gd11

Blessings,

Steve Carter 

Stress Solutions, LLC | www.EFT-MD.com | 

How to Solve the Big Meditation Problem

There are thousands of scientific research studies validating the benefits meditation can have on physical, emotional, and mental well-being. 

We all know we should be meditating, but life happens. Despite our best intentions, the actual doing gets hijacked by busy mornings, crying children, and hectic schedules. After missing one day and then another, our resolve dissolves and our meditation practice stops entirely.

There's an App for That

To paraphrase a term associated with cell phones and computers, "there's an app for that". In this case, "app" stands for applying Passive Breath Meditation (PBM) during your busy day. 

PBM allows you to solve the "No time for meditation" problem is a simple, elegant way that will have you back on the meditation wagon for good. Your Body - Mind - Spirit will say, "Thank you" in many beautiful, well-being enhancing ways.

Here's the 5-minute micro-training video.

                           Link: https://youtu.be/xmWwI0PunNg


Blessings and light,

Steve Carter

Stress Solutions, LLC | www.EFT-MD.com 

P.S. To be notified of other upcoming holistic health, stress mastery, and emotional well-being webinars and videos, visit http://www.eft-md.com/contact-us.html and look on the lower right of the page for the "Join Our Energy and Holistic Healing Family" sign-up.

The Truth About Mental Health and Why It Matters

The article, "On Balance 2016 was a Pretty Garbage Year for Mental Health", by Lindsay Holmes of the "Huffington Post" linked below pretty well sums up the past year in relation to the status of mental health in our culture and it's portrayal in the media.

There is an incredible amount of ignorance about mental health. We saw this ignorance on display as part of the recent election and other political and social theater this past year.

Be Smart and Get Help

If you or someone you care about needs help, I encourage you to get it. There is no shame in going to the doctor to get treated for pneumonia. Seeking help for an emotional or mental issue is no different. It's smart to get help.

It's also smart for us all to recognize that using pejorative labels such as "crazy", "nut-case", and similar terms is factually inaccurate and mentality debilitating for the person throwing those terms about. 

Give Yourself the Gift of Self-Care

One other smart thing to do: give yourself the gift of emotional self-care for stress. Stress - acute and chronic - makes any emotional, mental, or physical issue feel more intense. Indeed, for many people, problem thoughts, feelings, and emotional acting out occur only during periods of high stress.

Be smart. Read posts on this site and apply a few of the Stress-Mastery methods shared in those posts; attend a yoga or Tai Chi class; take a daily walk to reconnect with Mother Nature; use tapping methods such as EFT (see http://www.EFT-MD.com) to help regain mental and emotional balance; find a meditation teacher or research and use one of the easily done DIY meditation methods.

Be smart. It makes sense to de-stress.

Love and blessings,

Steve Carter

Stress Solutions, LLC

www.EFT-MD.com

P.S. To ensure you never miss a post, join our Stress Mastery community by simply entering your email address in the "Follow by Email" box on the right. No spam; no sharing.

Linked "Huffington Post" article: Lindsay Holmes, "On Balance, 2016 Was A Pretty Garbage Year For Mental Health" http://tinyurl.com/hbphufk

The Inflamed Mind - Why This BBC Report Matters

One of the mysteries of the mind and brain is why we can be functioning perfectly one day and then - sometimes overnight - fall into a bottomless sense of depression and even serious psychosis. 

A recent BBC report focuses on a new line of scientific investigation into the roles inflammation and autoimmune disorders can play in our mental wellbeing. The new approaches that come from these discoveries may mean better treatment outcomes and happier lives.

What's New and Why Does it Matter?

Problem: For about a third or more people dealing with depression and many additional people dealing with psychotic conditions, talk therapy offers little or no help.

Emerging Science: There is growing evidence that for many people depression and even psychotic

conditions can result from a whole body reaction to inflammation and autoimmune disorders. 

To quote Prof. Pariante, one of the medical scientists associated with this BBC story, 

"It is groundbreaking because, for the first time, we are demonstrating that depression is not only a disorder of the mind, in fact it is not even only a disorder of the brain, it is a disorder of the whole body.

Promising Solutions: As with so many challenging conditions, for many people depression and perhaps other serious mental conditions may best be treated in a holistic way.

A Possible Way Forward

If, after reading the article and listening to the audio report (see below), you conclude it's possible you or someone you know may be helped by exploring the role inflammation and autoimmune activity may be playing in a mental condition, talk with your doctor. Since this may be new information for many medical professionals, you may need to point them toward the BBC reports.

I encourage you to first read the BBC article entitled, "Depression: a Revolution in Treatment?" at http://bbc.in/2bQK8vo.

After reading this article, I encourage you to visit the BBC page that includes the recorded radio exploration of these discoveries at http://bbc.in/2bml8tO.

To your wellbeing,

Steve Carter

Stress Solutions, LLC | www.EFT-MD.com |