Announcing a no-cost, non-surgical way to look younger!!!
Smile.
A 3-second face lift? Really? We spend a lot of time, money, and effort trying to “make the most of what we’ve got” but there really is a lot of truth to the suggestion that inner beauty improves your looks far more effectively. And inner beauty is totally a matter of personal choices rather than medical advances.
We tend to believe that the things we want most are going to cost us. Beauty (or “handsomeness” if you prefer) is one of those things. But beauty is more about what you’re thinking than which face cream you are using. Or how many cosmetic surgery procedures you can afford.
There are even more pluses to inner beauty than looking good, too. Research has demonstrated a strong correlation between a positive attitude and both longevity and good health. So if you want to be beautiful, healthy, and long-lived, work on your smile.
Most Friday nights I dance to rock ‘n roll with my friend Diane. She is a pretty woman in the commercial sense of the word. But when she dances, she becomes ten times more beautiful—because she beams the whole time she is on the dance floor. She also talks to everyone in the place and learns about them in neighborly terms. (Last night, we went to a new place and the first couple with whom she struck up a conversation was from Scotland!) This woman literally lights up the room with her attitude. She’s one of my favorite role models.
Choosing to be happy with whatever the day brings is a major plus for health reasons. Choosing to share a smile every chance you get is better than Botox for how you come across.
So…how do you keep that smile?
- Choose not to judge other people. Judging is stern work. Look in the mirror the next time you’re in the middle of deciding someone else is wrong. You’re scowling, right? Most of our judgments are unnecessary—no action resulted from what you decreed. You just felt some negative thought—self-righteousness or irritation maybe—and then hung onto it like it was Holy Writ. Even worse, we are often wrong in what we decide is the case. One of my favorite sayings is “Never attribute to malice what can be explained by ignorance.” It keeps me from berating someone else’s dumb choice—like cutting me off on the freeway. “They just didn’t know any better” leaves me with an easy smile. “That arrogant bastard in the disgusting Hummer should be ticketed for aggressive driving” doesn’t keep me as serene. Or as attractive.
- Notice the good stuff in your day. It doesn’t have to be huge to make a difference. I once sat in traffic admiring the shade of red in the stoplight. I was on my way to an appointment with a shrink—and that stoplight made me realize my world was fine and I didn’t need to see her any more.
- Hope. Believe in the goodness of life and your own potential. Even if your prospects aren’t promising at the moment, keep trying and keep going. Hope is a key element of a good life but we don’t tend to focus on it until we’ve lost it. Do all you can to keep yours in your life all the time.
- Let it go. We tend to want to control what goes on in our lives—to be the one who decides how things are going to be. When things don’t go the way we want, we dwell on it, replaying the dissatisfying situation again and again. All this does is make you look ugly (really!). Letting go of whatever happened five minutes ago keeps you ready for whatever is coming next. It also gives your mind enough space to notice the good stuff that’s going on now. Smiling in the now is priceless.
If you want to look young forever, be happy. There’s no predetermining gene for this. Anyone at all can learn to smile. It starts with being happy and being happy is a choice. Choose to be happy and smile. The more you do, the more you will—and the more beautiful you will be on an on-going basis.
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Mary Lloyd is a speaker and consultant and author of Supercharged Retirement: Ditch the Rocking Chair, Trash the Remote, and Do What You Love. For more about her and her work, please visit her website http://www.mining-silver.com. She can be reached at mary@mining-silver.com.
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