Sunday Sunshine: Celebrate Your Inner Child

We're so grown up. We have adult responsibilities, adult worries, adult concerns, adult plans. All of those responsibilities, worries, concerns and plans can weigh you down. How often do you catch yourself smiling or laughing or relaxing during those tense adult moments?

It's time to lighten up and celebrate your inner child.

Be silly. Be playful. Laugh hard and joyfully. Let yourself relax in healthy, restorative ways.

Try this: Take 15 minutes -- just 15 minutes -- to lie on your back in the grass (or in a lawn chair!) and watch the clouds float above you against the bright blue sky. Let your mind drift. Let your imagination take over. Can you see shapes in those clouds? 

You can also try this: Stand in front of the bathroom mirror and smile. Make it a genuine, happy smile. Then, laugh out loud - a really deep belly laugh. How does it make you feel?

We all need fun and relaxation. It’s good for the mind, body and spirit.

Today, this week: Reserve time in your datebook for play and relaxation. Celebrate your inner child.

Sunday Sunshine: Smile!

It's been said that when you smile, your brain registers happiness. Your heart rate and blood pressure lower. You automatically feel more optimistic and positive. Smiling is like a magic pill!

How often do you smile during the day? As children, we smile and laugh often. As adults, with our myriad distractions and concerns, most of us likely don't smile and laugh as often as our younger selves once did.

You can change that!

Smile! Bring the gifts of joy and laughter to each of your days. There is so much to enjoy.

Today, this week: Smile! Cultivate your own happiness!

Laughing. Singing. Dancing.

My late mom had a little pillow on which was embroidered "Live well, laugh often, love much."  Mom lived by those words.  She had a wonderful, purposeful life.  She filled each day with love and laughter.  She was always the first to enjoy a good joke and even had the grace to know how to laugh at herself.  Our friend Bill noted recently that his late mother-in-law would have recommended that family and friends enjoy some LSD.  As those around him gasped, Bill chuckled and explained that LSD stood for "Laughter, Singing and Dancing."  So that's just what we did that evening as we celebrated Bill's birthday.  There was much laughter in the room, especially when we all gathered into a conga line and moved about to the Latin musical beat.  I told my husband Larry that I felt more alive that evening than I had in months.  It was great to just cut loose and dance without self-consciousness, laugh joyfully with long-time friends, and sing along with the live music.  As Bill said, we all need a little LSD in our lives so that will be my aim.  At the end of each day, I want to be able to reflect back on how well I lived, how often I laughed and how much I loved.