Improve your mood!

INTRODUCE 5 minutes a day to breath using your diaphragm, the muscle of serenity.

Incorrect breathing is linked to modern lifestyle, filled with stress and anxiety: we often breathe just with the upper portion of ribs and consequentially maintain throughout the day an inspiratory block.

The diaphragm block acts on the lack of natural “massage” that this muscle should continuously make on the internal organs; besides this, it activates some accessory breathing muscles in the wrong way, triggering cervical problems; in conclusion, that’s a big mess: stomach and intestines work badly and you can even suffer from headaches because of this respiratory system’s deficiency.

Lie down for 5 minutes and relax: it’s summer! Look at the sky, sit back and breathe with your hands on the stomach, inflating it while you keep your chest lowered. Let the air move down and be serene… breathing well requires a good training, too!

INCREASE your smiles. We usually refer to the mouth, but smiles primarily involve eyes, too. The expressive and communicative power of a spontaneous smile comes from the depth and vibrancy of your look. Conversely when you force or fake a smile, your eyes are not involved and there’s just a mouth contraction.

Think about how many times you smile and all the good reasons you have to do it more and more spontaneously: “smile with your eyes” to your children, to a sunny summer day, to a friend walking on the street (you could amaze him, since we don’t often look one at each other), to the partner that chooses you every day or to a potential one; smile to the bartender after your morning coffee.

You will be impressed by how many barriers will fall and how it will make you feel good!

REDUCE the negative thoughts: those thoughts, fears, anxieties that haunt your mind. Try to successfully deal with unwanted thoughts so that they won’t affect your self-esteem or throw shadows on your day.

This could be a good strategy: don’t try to suppress a thought (it has proved to be impossible), but let it emerge once and for all, rationalize it, maybe write it, confront it, analyze it and then replace it with something else.

Do not block the negative thoughts, but learn to act on them, planning ahead on time your possible reactions so that, when they finally arrive, you can go straight to your conclusions. Negative thinking has no convenience. It just paralyzes you.

Ok, it’s a little bit simplistic, but small strategies often help us to reduce anxiety and improve our mental state. It’s summer: write your negative thoughts, put them in a bottle, tap it and deliver it to the sea (figuratively of course!).

STOP any kind of negative comparison. Comparing yourself to others may be constructive and strengthens you, but frequently you just see your weaknesses, note your flaws and highlight your shortcomings.

In this sense, summer is tremendous: you go to the beach and immediately compare every single part of your body with a twenty-something super toned girl or gym-fanatic guy, fabulously defined. Don’t do that! Take care of yourself, love and cuddle yourself.

You can’t be like other people, but you can be a better version of you. Then ask yourself how you could improve and maybe start programming your goals for the winter, step by step!

The perfect man or woman doesn’t exist, but you do!

Tiziana Pregliasco