Pub Community | Newsletterish | Smiling

How To Use Smiling To Improve Your Health, Beginning Now

Why this simple tool can help you to feel better

“A smile is happiness you’ll find right under your nose.”

— Tom Wilson

Hello, my beloved reading and writing community!

How is everyone today? I hope your week has got off to a terrific start — and your year, too.

A couple of weeks ago, I told you about Mercury going retrograde shortly. At that time, we were entering the pre-retrograde period. Mercury was beginning to slow down (Dec. 28) and you might have felt some of that energy in your own life since then, too.

Now we are just a few days away from retrograde beginning — Jan. 14/15 depending where you are in the world, lasting until Feb. 4/5.

A little reminder: This period is not a great time to make any agreements (written or verbal), make any large purchases or buy anything mechanical or electronic (could have problems later) such as computers, appliances etc. Also not a great time to travel if you can put it off till later.

It’s not a brilliant time to start anything new (unless it’s something you’ve done before and you are going back to it). Definitely not a good time to begin a new relationship or bring up any touchy subjects with someone if you can leave it for a few weeks.

During the next few weeks, you could notice issues with internet, electronics, computers, mechanical problems, communication mix-ups (and blow-ups), emails that don’t show up, delays delays delays, oh, and did I mention delays?

Of course, life has to go on and people have been managing to conduct business, buy homes, and generally live their lives during Mercury retrograde periods with no trouble at all.

It’s just that the above issues are more likely during this period so if you can put off doing certain things till later, it’s advisable. If you can’t, double-triple-quadruple check everything: your travel arrangements; that your travel documents are kept safely safely safely, oh and did I mention safely? with you at all times; the terms and details of any contracts or agreements; that you have adequate warranty coverage…etc.

This will be the case till at least mid-February as Mercury won’t be fully direct again until Feb. 27th.

Don’t panic. If you have to do something, do it. Just be extra careful. Mercury urges us to review, revise, replan, be sure, check it twice (or more), take your time. We need to be reminded of this now and then; the retrograde period is a gift that allows us this chance.

During this review period, you will often find that you make changes to something you’ve been planning, such as a proposed launch or a book you were planning or the business you’re creating.

And as I mentioned last time, it’s an extra good time to retreat, go within, and reflect.

A Restful Treat/Retreat

Does that mean a retreat is (or is also) when you keep going back to a treat? In this case, yes.

I’m going to share a wonderful little goodie with you that can dramatically reduce your stress and lift your spirits in minutes. A treat that becomes a retreat every time you give it to yourself.

As a mindfulness meditation facilitator for several years, I’ve enjoyed helping students discover a deep sense of inner peace and joy through learning some simple techniques.

If the word “meditation” has you running for the hills and screaming “NONONONONO!”, hang on a minute. I promise you’re going to love this.

All you have to do is smile…with a bit of a twist.

No matter how stressed or upset you are, if you plaster on a fake smile — even a little one — for a few minutes, your brain gets the idea that you’re happy and it will send out those wonderful “feel-good” endorphins. You might have heard about standing in a power position for a few minutes before an interview — feet wide apart, arms outstretched — and that this will help you to feel confident…it’s the same principle.

Close your eyes and put on that little smile. It doesn’t have to be a smile that makes your face hurt and feels like work to maintain; in fact, it shouldn’t be like that at all. Just a nice little Buddha smile will do it. Think “Mona Lisa.”

Okay, you’re smiling that little smile. Imagine the smile is spreading. Your cheeks are smiling. Your eyes are smiling. So are your eyebrows, chin and forehead.

Even your hair is smiling. Yes, really. Your ears, your neck, your shoulders. All smiling. Your knuckles, toenails, kneecaps. The whole gang is smiling.

Your chest is smiling. Your lungs, too. Imagine your heart with a giant “smile-mouth” on it.

You could envision that smile on all of your organs. Smiling kidneys, stomach, liver. Imagine a smile on your belly button! And little happy faces on all of your blood cells as they cheerily zip through your body feeding oxygen to every one of your cells. Just like Mr. McFeely delivered mail all over Mr. Rogers’ Neighbourhood.

Whatever works for you…just imagine your entire body is smiling. These are only my own ways of doing it.

In a matter of minutes, you will begin to feel more relaxed and lighter. The longer you do it, the better you will feel.

Health Benefits

According to MedicalNewsToday:

“A new study suggests that holding a smile on one’s face during periods of stress may help the heart…Previous studies have shown that smiling affects emotion, and that positive emotions have an effect on stress.”

This study was done by psychological scientists, Tara Kraft and Sarah Pressman at the University of Kansas. They experimented with different types of smiling, and how it affected our ability to recover from stressful experiences.

Further to this, we know happiness impacts our health in various ways. For example:

• lowers your risk for cardiovascular disease
• reduces blood pressure
• improves sleep
• can contribute to an improved diet
• may improve activity level, which carries numerous health benefits
• reduces stress

And of course, meditation has countless benefits such as those listed above, and more.

The combination of smiling and meditating for 10–20 minutes can have a dramatic and positive impact on your overall health and wellbeing.

Plus it feels great!

It’s fun, easy, and will lift your spirits. Even kids can do this — and they love it.

A Tool for Anxiety

Do you struggle with anxiety? Do you have children who are anxious? This wonderful smiling meditation can help.

To sum up:

1. Close your eyes. Smile. All over your body.
2. Do this once daily for 10–20 minutes — and for a few minutes with any stressful moments that arise during the day. Try it every day for a couple of weeks and keep a record of anxiety levels and responses, and how you’re feeling in general.
3. Be amazed.

Smiling is one way to feel great. What makes you feel good? I would love to see your stories and poems about that.

I’m smiling today because we are celebrating 117 followers on Shorties But Goodies!

And 87 followers on Hope, Healing and Humour!

Yay! A heartfelt Thank you! to all of you amazingly wonderful writers whose uplifting, helpful and entertaining contributions are the reason we are growing!

Zoom Update

I hope to have a registration page organised by next week for those of you who plan to attend the chat.

If you plan to be there, please put it in your calendar!

Saturday, Jan. 29 at 8 pm GMT, 3 pm EST, noon PST.

Sunday, Jan. 30 at 1:30 a.m. IST, 7 a.m. AEST, 9 a.m. NZ

I’m looking forward to seeing you then and having us connect in another way! Yay!

Please enjoy these wonderful responses to last week’s invitation to write about fun:

Trista Signe Ainsworth shares some fascinating photos with her wonderful story about unusual fun in Japan:

Dr. Preeti Singh gives us a delightful break with beautiful photos and some wonderful takeaways about having fun in a garden:

And here’s a wonderful collection of other topics for you to enjoy:

Kaz Rochford has written a heartfelt, powerful story about what happened after a devastating, life-changing accident:

She has also shared a piece that had me right there with her on the beach…Yum…

Slow train offers an inspiring and different take on focus for the New Year:

Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles offers a wonderful story about growing — not growing old:

Dina Alexander has some fantastic info on how to actually make those New Year’s Resolutions stick:

Sahil Patel has written a beautiful piece about how to cope with difficult times…

Jimmy Misner Jr. offers some lovely thoughts on what it means to be a hero and it doesn’t have to be what you think:

DL Nemeril shares a powerful and insightful story of an experience at Notre Dame in Paris:

Kris Bedenian shares some food for thought about pursuing your passion:

She’s also got a couple of questions for you that may (or may not!) be impacting your productivity:

…and she shares some thoughts on writing catchy titles…

And I was so inspired by her morning routine (even though mine is similar, somehow it sounded even more magical reading about someone else doing the same sorts of things!):

Danielle Hestand offers thoughts on “gratitude jars” — perhaps this will inspire you in some way?

Plus she takes crafting and her love of animals to a whole new place:

…and she had another sweet story to share about why one particular gift was so thoughtful:

Tamil has written another sweet story about her adorable — and precocious — young daughter:

Jessica Rabel has written a hilarious piece with some of the most bizarre real headlines ever in the news:

B.R. Shenoy wrote about the need for courage:

Nia Simone McLeod has been having fun watching an excellent kids’ film (is it okay that I do that all by myself when even my grandchildren are now grownups?!?):

Isabel Young has a simple suggestion to help you make those New Year’s Resolutions stick:

Christina offers some beautiful wisdom, inspired by Mother Nature:

Karen Schwartz shares an interesting story about a significant cultural shift that is long overdue:

Sam Branstner offers an entertaining look at a bizarre side effect of living in frigid temps (which I remember well about Western Canada and do not miss here in England!):

Sharing Words has written a sweet, short story that was light and lovely, made me feel every bit of it — a refreshing break in my day!

…and also remembers an exciting moment from long ago:

Carrie Kolar had me in floods of tears with this one. There I was, minding my own business, hopping into HHH stories to check for drafts and WHAM! The most insanely, amazingly, incredible surprise!

It is a little awkward for me to share it here because I don’t want to blow my own horn but Carrie is a beloved member of our Pub Family and as this is a list of all submissions to SBG! and HHH in the past week, her work needs to be included, too!

And a few words from yours truly on what happened when I saw the damaging effects of making decisions based on fear, and the totally blow-my-doors-off, completely life-changing result of making one simple promise — and you can do it, too:

There you go! If you missed any of these wonderful contributions by our Pub Family members since my last newsletterish, this should catch you up.

And…before we get to your very favourite part…the extra fabulous joke for the day…(I just know you’ve been itching to read it! Nearly there now!)…

…first, I would love to acknowledge our Pub Family. Without you, I’d be sitting here all by myself with two lonely little pubs. At least there’d be some fun stuff in Witchy’s pub but SBG! and HHH would be very, very quiet. Like a ghost town. Tumbleweeds. Saloon doors clattering but no one’s inside…

Thank you for creating this wonderful community with me. I treasure all of you and your beautiful contributions. 💜🙏🏻

Dr Andrea Polzer Kris Bedenian Rodney Brazier Patti Murray Voncannon Carrie Kolar Croix Sather Deb Fiore Dina Alexander DL Nemeril Donnette Anglin, Loren Lieberthal Jimmy Misner Jr. Judy Millar Julie Gaeta Pene Hodge Karen Schwartz James Knight Laura Izquierdo pockett dessert Dr. Preeti Singh Radhika Iyer Sam Branstner Sharon Sayler, Author Umme Salma Susie Kearley Tamil T Mann Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles Lion~ Wendy S. Bradfield Yana Bostongirl Jo An Fox-Wright Maddox Suma Narayan Penny Walsh Shameem Anwar Irene Fassler Ananya Sandy Peckinpah Trista Signe Ainsworth Slow train A.H. Mehr Alex Frederickson Ashley Nicole B.R. Shenoy Carolyn Hastings Christina Christine Vann, MSc. Irene Fassler Edward John Ellie Jacobson ✍🏻 The Soulful Scribbler Isabel Young Kaz Rochford Nia Simone McLeod Nicole Hilbig Patricia Wright Pam Winter Rachella Angel Page Jodian Marie Thomas, MS, Bsc, Asc L Burton Muhammad Abdullah Kate Aries Danielle Hestand Sahil Patel Jessica Rabel Sharing Words Malky McEwan Belinda Castle

And…here it is! The pièce de résistance:

Q: What are the strongest days of the week???

…wait for it…

…still waiting…

…buckle up…

A: Saturday and Sunday. All the rest are weekdays. 😂😂😂

Happy Tuesday!!!

With love, Your dopey editor who adores you

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