They really are contagious.

A smile is one of the strongest, yet silent forms of communication and expression.

A smile is something priceless and means different things for everyone. The most common is the positive reactions it causes. We are beings that’s thrive in positive energy. We spark to life, our day brightens. A smile can stop tears, stop a frown, ease ones pain, shed light on sorrow, make you blush, even fill one with excitement. The things a smile can do are truly limitless. Every ones smile can cause such different positive reactions in so many different people. The simple greatness of a smile is truly remarkable. It’s true… some of the best things in life are free, yet priceless.

A smile can not only make you look more cheerful and positive. It can also make you feel better, happier, more optimistic and confident about life in general. That’s not to say that people who are smiling on the outside are never feeling down, despondent and blue on the inside. But it can help raise your spirits by a few degrees at least. If it then leads to some friendly conversation with another human being, then the personal benefits are multiplied.

A smile can be like the sun breaking through the clouds on a dismal day. It can restore a person’s faith in their own value and the bigger picture of their world. A smile can make them feel that things might even be getting better.   Enough smiles may give them the incentive to do something even more positive that could potentially improve their outlook on life considerably.

It may sometimes take some effort to overcome your own glum mood enough to lift the corners of your mouth and smile – with your heart in it. Nevertheless, it’s so true that smiling costs the giver nothing they don’t have hidden somewhere within. Once accessed it can be automatically regenerated time and again, radiating warmth throughout your own soul and flowing out in all directions to touch and warm the souls of others. It’s one of the most powerful, magical – and totally free – therapies in the world.

Everyone smiles in the same language.

So put on a happy face!

Does anyone have a story they’d like to share about a smile they once received or gave to another, let’s all try to all put a smile on each other’s faces.  I know I’d love to hear them, and share them with others.

Here is mine:

Awhile back ago I went to a seminar on Michael Bernard Beckwiths “Spiritual Liberation” alone (something which I would normally never do, going alone that is).  During the seminar we all had to do an exercise together, we all had to stand and take each other’s hand of the person to our right, over to the right of me, was a beautiful young girl, but she was born without half of her left arm, as we both looked at each other and she said to me “sorry” I couldn’t believe she had just apologized to me for not having a hand to hold.  We both laughed as I put my arm around her and we carried on together, when we both looked at each other with hesitation and discomfort I’m sure (at first), but when we both laughed and exchanged smiles, that I can truly say for myself that was one of the best smiles given and received for me, and still makes me smile to this day just thinking about it, she truly was an amazing person I met that night.

Daya.

The pursuit of happiness is sometimes easier said than done.  

Some scientists have argued that happiness is largely determined by genetics, health and other factors mostly outside of our control. But recent research suggests people actually can take charge of their own happiness and boost it through certain practices.

“The billion-dollar question is, is it possible to become happier?” said psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky of the University of California, Riverside. “Despite the finding that happiness is partially genetically determined, and despite the finding that life situations have a smaller influence on our happiness than we think they do, we argue that still a large portion of happiness is in our power to change.”

Lyubomirsky spoke here Saturday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She and colleagues last year reviewed 51 studies that tested attempts to increase happiness through different types of positive thinking, and found that these practices can significantly enhance well-being. The results were published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

Here are five things that research has shown can improve happiness:

1. Be grateful — Some study participants were asked to write letters of gratitude to people who had helped them in some way. The study found that these people reported a lasting increase in happiness – over weeks and even months – after implementing the habit. What’s even more surprising: Sending the letter is not necessary. Even when people wrote letters but never delivered them to the addressee, they still reported feeling better afterward.
2. Be optimistic — Another practice that seems to help is optimistic thinking. Study participants were asked to visualize an ideal future – for example, living with a loving and supportive partner, or finding a job that was fulfilling — and describe the image in a journal entry. After doing this for a few weeks, these people too reported increased feelings of well-being
3. Count your blessings — People who practice writing down three good things that have happened to them every week show significant boosts in happiness, studies have found. It seems the act of focusing on the positive helps people remember reasons to be glad.
4. Use your strengths — Another study asked people to identify their greatest strengths, and then to try to use these strengths in new ways. For example, someone who says they have a good sense of humor could try telling jokes to lighten up business meetings or cheer up sad friends. This habit, too, seems to heighten happiness.
5. Commit acts of kindness — It turns out helping others also helps ourselves. People who donate time or money to charity, or who altruistically assist people in need, report improvements in their own happiness.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35527612/ns/health-behavior/

The word “inspiration” comes from the same root as “respiration.” To inspire has a number of definitions related to breathing, creativity, influence and aliveness. What we are all seeking is inspiration – to feel alive, energized, engaged in meaningful creative activity.
What Inspires You?
Inspiration I believe comes from something you love to do “passion.”
So why do so many of us do what we don’t love?
If you feel like you have no inspiration in your life, ask yourself, are you doing something that you love, something that will give you inspiration each and every day, and if you’re not, how do you start your creative juices flowing.

Inspiration:

1. Inspiration can come in the smallest form, in the most obvious places (places you’ve been, things you’ve seen, looking through old photos, your favourite song).

2. Connecting with other people with the same interests, passions and beliefs can also work to inspire one another.

3. Taking yourself back to a moment that inspired you in the past, what motivated you then, use it to help inspire you now.

4. Inspiration comes when you are open minded, being perceptive to new ideas ( being around new friends, new places of interest or just watching a movie you thought you would never watch before).

5. Solitude is also a place where we can find time for reflection and deep thinking.

Creativity:

1. Creativity comes from making something out of nothing, so the possibilities are seemingly endless, so what are your new ideas or concepts for your work, being creative in new and unique ways means finding new solutions to old problems and being imaginative to both old and new ones.

2. Start writing all your ideas down, carry a small notebook and pen around with you at all times so you can jot them all down, now remember not all your ideas will be great, but writing them all down lets you pick and choose and none will be forgotten.

3. Read as much as you can about everything possible, this will get your brain exercising and allow you to start making creative connections (brain storming).

4. Don’t delay, create your work you have in mind right now, don’t postpone it, there may not be a later time or you may not be able to go back to what you feel today, tomorrow.

Vision:

1. How clear is your vision? This defines how successful you will be in conveying your vision to others, it’s not just creating an idea but creating a story to the idea and sharing your ideas with an audience.
2. Think of all the things possible that might be possible in a given time frame.
3. Suggest as many ideas as you can, don’t try to please others, just please yourself.
4. Edit the list to what you are willing to commit to and where you want to go with it.
5. Create a step by step action plan. This will describe every step you take, how long each step will take and what should be achieved, you can better develop a cast iron action plan that increases the likeliness that your idea will be implemented effectively. And that is what turns a creative idea into an innovation.

Style:

1. A personal style is primarily achieved through your work. This work consists of developing the vision you obtained by following your inspiration and expressing your creativity.

2. You cannot force personal style into being because in many ways style finds us more than we find it. What you can do is work as hard as you can at expressing your vision.

3. A personal style is the expression of your vision. It is also the expression of your personal taste, of your personal choices. It should also be remembered that achieving a style is a journey more than a destination and that the most important asset during this journey is your willingness to work as hard as you can at developing your own style.

4. In order to develop a style you must do something different from what others have done before you. This means that you must take a chance or take a risk. Nothing-risked means nothing gained. You must attempt to go beyond what others have done so far, attempt to push the boundaries, or attempt to do something new. Do something that others did not think you would do. In other words, one has to try and see.

Daya.

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive.”

Howard Thurman