January 4 - Don't Worry, Be Happy

Don't underestimate the power of a smile for good health.

Happy people do seem to be healthier, and happiness itself may cause good health. In fact, happiness may be as important a factor in overall health as someone's smoking habits. Worried about heart disease and stroke? Happiness appears to make people more resistant to both conditions. Don't want to catch a cold this year? One study that exposed subjects to a cold virus found that people who considered themselves happy were less likely to get sick -- and expressed fewer symptoms even if they did contract the virus. Dealing with depression? Get to a doctor -- studies show that depressed adults are 60 percent more likely to have type 2 diabetes, possibly because the stress hormone cortisol raises blood sugar levels.

Even among poor people whose needs for food and shelter aren't adequately met, there's a connection between how happy people are and how healthy they are. One study of more than 150,000 adults showed a more important link between happiness and health than basic needs (food, water, shelter) and health.

Interestingly, happiness also seems to extend life -- if you're already healthy, that is. Among unhealthy populations, it doesn't seem to affect longevity. Think of happiness as a plastic sofa guard for your health: It protects your couch but can't fix what's already wrong with it. For independent seniors who live alone or with family, happiness predicts a longer life; those living in nursing care facilities (as a likely result of failing health) don't show the same correlation. With these results in mind, it looks like happiness may be a preventive measure, not an antidote.

So making smiling part of your day. And do it often.

In Qigong there are special smiling exercises to practice:

PERSONAL SMILING QIGONG
1. Sit down in a chair and get comfortable, relax a bit
2. Inhale Deeply
3. Exhale Deeply, put a big smile on your face and feel your face radiate the smile, at the same time using your internal voice say “My smile creates my happiness and I am grateful”
4. Repeat this process for five minutes making sure that you use the biggest smile that you can do without giving yourself a face cramp. Ha Ha! Have Fun With It!

I think you will discover that your mood will elevate and that you will feel and be in a much higher vibrational level. You can do this all the time. You can change the affirmation to any affirmation that you can think of and use the power of smile qigong to change your vibrational level.

UNIVERSAL SMILING QIGONG
1. Smile at everyone you meet or deal with as you encounter them during your day
2. Inhale and Exhale and say using your internal voice (make sure you say it internally, some people might think you are a bit nuts! Ha!) “I live in the abundance of happiness of the universe”
3. If someone smiles back, say “Hi, how are you today?” and share your happiness with them.

Smiling is contagious......spread it around!