You must make an effort to smile every moment that you can. Even in the most stressful situations, you must make certain you are smiling. A good exercise is to set a timer at 10 minute intervals throughout the day. Each time it goes off, note if you were smiling.
Then, make an effort to keep smiling as long as possible until the next interval is up. Bad habit breaking is a slow process and it may take more than a month to achieve the results you want. However, if you focus eventually you will find that you are smiling each time the timer sounds.
You also need to retrain your brain so that smiles come more naturally. Instead of seeking out the negative, focus on the positive. If you are in a very stressful situation, take a look around. It may be a person across the street who is unconsciously whistling a happy tune or the child in the backseat of the car next to you who looks ready to burst with energy.
Somewhere in sight there is always something to smile about. It is important that you form a habit of looking for the positive. You should incorporate this idea into the smiling exercise you learned earlier. Each time the timer goes off, make a note of something worth smiling about, no matter how large or insignificant it will be.
This will train your brain to quickly and automatically seek out the happier aspects of life.
There are also other diversions which will surely increase your smile frequency.
Taking a walk outside is bound to produce a smile once you are surrounded by fresh air, sites, sounds, new faces, and the increased blood flow from the exercise. Taking up a new hobby or getting a new pet will also help relieve stress and increase your natural smiles.Use a Caring Touch
Without knowing it, we touch our face hundreds of time a day. A touch may be to apply lotion in the morning, brush a stray hair away from our cheek, rub our weary eyes, or wash our face at the end of a long day. No matter the reason, you should always handle your face with care.
Don’t Let Delicate Skin Stand in Your Way
There is a myth that if you touch your skin you will cause wrinkles and discoloring.
Your skin is thinner on your face and more delicate, but not that delicate. In fact, it
thrives from being touched.
Touch is one of your most basic sensations. All of your skin is designed to feel and
be touched, including your face. Has a touch ever caused goosebumps or some other
emotional response? This is your skin’s way of telling you it enjoyed the sensation of
touch.
Your face enjoys touch just as much as the rest of your body. This is why facials and
other forms of facial massage are so popular, because your delicate skin still wants to
be touched. It is a subconscious desire that, when fulfilled, makes your skin thrive.
The Nurturing Touch of Acupressure
Sometimes a caring touch does not necessarily mean a soft touch. There are times when a stronger
hand is needed. This is when many people turn to massage, but acupuncture can be more productive.
Many factors influence how healthy and flawless your face appears. As you have learned earlier, your
negative emotions can disfigure you. Smiling is important to keep your face lightened and healthy.
However, sometimes the muscles and skin of your face can actually trap and store negative energy, compounding the effects.
When your face traps this negative energy, it has many consequences. Naturally, your expression is going to remain in a constant smile or frown, artificially aging you, detracting from your looks, and essentially turning people off.
However, the tension you feel will also become very pronounced on your face.The areas of your face which hold in your negative energy, such as your temples
or between your eyes, are going to quickly get deep lines. The same pressure that
forms these deep lines is also restricting blood flow to the area which will cause water
retention and skin discoloring. In the end, your dissatisfaction with your appearance
will cause even greater tension and start a cycle of negative energy.
This is when an extreme, but nurturing, touch is needed. Westerners are very
familiar with the alternative healing practice of acupuncture, but acupressure is
a better alternative for the face. The act of simply applying pressure to certain
locations of the face can help you release that stored energy and almost instantly
rejuvenate your skin.
A Sample Exercise
There are acupressure experts who can help you relieve the most severe cases of
negative tension. However, there are plenty of techniques you can do at home to
ensure it never gets that bad. For example, lay down on the floor with your head
fully relaxed. Use your finger tips to massage the top of your head. Then, move
them in a flowing motion from your crown to the base of your head at the spine.
Apply as much pressure as you can tolerate.
While the top of your head is not your face, applying pressure in this location
can have a tremendous benefit and greatly improve your appearance. The ancient
Chinese call this area of the head the “Pool of Wind” because energy stored here
can travel throughout the body. Releasing this energy is known to cure headaches,
improve vision, and repair stiffness at the neck.
Headaches are caused by muscles that are too taut. Eye vision is impaired when
muscles squeeze too tightly on the cornea and optic nerve. The neck becomes stiff
when muscles pull on it too greatly.
This one exercise can relieve this muscle based pain. Naturally, it also relaxes all of
the muscles in your face, softening your appearance. The relief of this tension will
naturally calm and relax you, further reducing your tension. Essentially, this one
exercise can break the cycle of tension and start a cycle that will keep your face
looking youthful and beautiful. If only one technique can be so powerful, imagine
how you would benefit using intensive acupressure.
