On the First Day of Christmas, we decided to be more accepting of others
On the Second day we decided to make gift giving even easier by managing our gift giving expectations.
On the Third Day of Christmas, we checked IN on the plan
On the Forth Day we decided to LOOK at our gift giving habits
On the Fifth we decided to get REAL, to NOT should on ourselves or others!
On the Sixth day we will try to be KINDER to ourselves.
On the Seventh day, we are going to be nice, thoughtful and kind to others.
On the 8th day we are going to look at and challenged our qualifiers
On the Ninth day, we are going to look at Gratefulness
Now on the Tenth day, we are going to create SMILES
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This time of year can actually TAKE away our smiles. There is a lot of stress and extra things we have to do ON TOP OF the many many things we USUALLY do! So, it can be hard to take a moment to SMILE. It can be hard to even THINK about smiling. So, to combat that, we are going to focus on a few things:
What makes us smile?
What helps others smile?
How can we CREATE more of those smiles!
I heard about a study that said that when you SMILE (even if you don’t mean it) there is a positive chemical flood that occurs in your brain! It seems that the brain is SO used to the muscle movement of a smile being associated with something happy, that JUST using those muscles that way can create the chemical flood!
YEP: smiles create positive brain chemistry!!!
Now, to me there is likely MORE of a chemical flood if something is MORE smile worthy. So, we’ll look at
SMILE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK
And create a continuum:
Small smile ——- Medium smile ——— BIG smile
So, small smiles = small chemical flood. Medium = medium. BIG = BIG chemical bang for your buck.
So, the “bang” is sort of what the smile is WORTH to you. This might be based on how much effort or time it takes or just how GOOD the smile feels. I think you know what I mean here right? Some smiles are just…BIGGER.
Now, it’s good to have at least a few things in EACH category. Small smiles might be just easier to come by. That way, if you can’t find a big smile, you can at least find a small one. I would also think, that several small smiles can actually add up to the same BANG for your smile BUCK as one big smile!!!
Now, you guessed it we are going to make LISTS!!!
One about YOU: what makes you smile Small—- med —-big
One for “them” spouse/significant other: what makes them smile small —– med —– big
One for others in our lives (BFF, coworkers etc…): This one can be a bit tougher, but the more important a person is to us the more we need to pay attention so we can know what does make them smile) Small –med—big
One for “strangers”: what make them smile. This is a best guess deal. If we say, “you are doing a great job” to a checker at the store, it’s likely you’ll get at least a small smile.
Now MAKE YOUR LISTS. Write them down, they will absorb better in to your brain. Added bonus: just MAKING the list will make you smile!
Now I challenge you to FIND ONE SMILE (at least) PER DAY!!!!
Could be YOUR smile, could be your spouse, could be a friend or stranger. Could be small, med or big. The challenge is ONE PER DAY!!! (more is even better!!!)
Oh, and this a GREAT habit to get in to, all year long!!!!
This isn’t always as easy as it sounds and it takes PRACTICE, but once you get good at it you brain will thank you!!!
2 Days left! I’m going to make it before Christmas day!
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