Smile

Scientists have shown that smiling can induce chemical changes in the brain that stimulate happiness (not a smirk - but a whole face smile). Participants in a study were encouraged to practice smiling before a mirror and ensure the use of the mouth, cheeks and eyes. The results were reduced stress, reduced anxiety, release of muscular tensions and a general improvement to physical health. Scientists deduced - quite rightly - that happy people have less anxieties and people with fewer anxieties are happier!

Laughing is also beneficial and has been described as an internal body exercise. Other participants were asked to start each day with laughter - ten minutes of it - induced by listening to a tape of laughter. Laughter is also being used as a new form of meditation. Happy people laugh more than their unhappy counterparts.

So don't just sit there, SMILE. Use your whole face. Laugh out loud. Try it. It's really quite hard to stay miserable if you smile as hard as you can.

Visualisation

Why not take a trip to these woods right now?

This is a simple meditation technique. Click on the image to the left and a larger version will appear. Look at the picture for a few moments and listen to the soundtrack of the birds singing. Then simply close your eyes and imagine that you're in these woods. Visualise it in your mind. Feel the warmth of the sun peeping through the dense green leaves. Feel the coolness of the shadows. See the birds hopping between the branches and bushes. Smell the vegetation. Breathe in the pure, clean air. Kick up the leaves that litter the soft brown earth.

Forget all other worries and concerns and enjoy the feeling of several minutes in the woods.