What Makes You Smile?

It's a wonderful sunny morning here.  I have just watched the sun rise over the headland, and am amazed at how still and calm the water is in the bay.  It is really unusual for us to get such calm water here; after all I am on the Isle of Man, in the middle of the Irish Sea.  It reminds me of an old English phrase - that the water is as still as a mill pond.  Everything is peaceful and serene and bathed in bright morning sunlight.  Everyone else in the house is asleep.  I love this time of the day.

When I look out at this view I am always amazed; I almost catch my breath every time.  How many times do you look around you at the beauty of nature and catch your breath?  How many times do you set out in your morning with the clear intention in your mind of noticing what is beautiful and uplifting to you?  I ask this question because so many of us are guilty these days of focusing on the minor goals in life (which we have turned into priorities) and missing out on what we are really looking for - enjoyment and happiness.  We focus on getting to work quickly, and miss the enjoyment we could have if we just noticed more mere moments in our day.  Happiness and bliss is to be found in the moment - it happens in the now.

No Matter where you live or what is going on around you, there is a lot which will make you laugh or smile if you just look for it.  And if you cannot see anything outside of you which fits the description of beautiful or uplifting then you can find something inside you which has this effect.  You can think of your child's face, or something funny which you heard on the radio, or create a beautiful scene in your mind's eye.  Pause for a moment and just enjoy.  Feel each breath you take, relax your muscles and just SMILE. 

It is a sign of the times that there is actually "laughter therapy".  By choosing to pause for a moment, to smile and think of good things you can create your own uplifting feelings.  And as you consciously change the energy which you are feeling you at the same time alter the energy which you are emitting to the world around you.  We owe it to each other as well as to ourselves to take the time to laugh, be happy and enjoy.  Why not consciously intend to be happyand smile a lot?  Why not see how many things in your day there are today which make you smile?  By looking for these things you will notice them; if you do not set out to see these things, often they will pass you by unnoticed.

Just seeing a happy and smiling face makes you feel good.  It can feel like a ray of sunshine in your day.  To know that you have been the cause of that person's smile makes you feel even better.  Why not set out today with the intention of seeing how many people you can get to smile?  Now that would be a great intention and would give everyone around you a ray of bright and beautiful sunshine.  It is very true that those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.  

The link of course between happinessand sunshine is that both stimulate a similar neurological response within your brain.  Endorphins are released and their feel-good effect is felt throughout your physiology.  Should you want to give yourself an extra endorphin boost you can do so using hypnosis and visualization; relax in hypnosis and visualize yourself somewhere sunny and just imagine those happy endorphins flowing freely throughout your body.  You can even get a hypnosis download specifically designed to generate endorphins. 

Here's to ahappyday with lots of smiles!

Roseanna Leaton, specialist in hypnosis for change.

http://www.RoseannaLeaton.com