Benefits of Smiling

What is your reaction to seeing a baby? Unless they are crying, usually your reaction is to smile! You naturally want to connect with the baby and try to get them to smile back. Why not try to same thing with adults (except maybe not use your baby voice)? Here are some benefits of smiling:

Smiling improves your mood.
Fake it to you make it and your mood will follow. Put a smile on your face and you will stay positive. Friends, family and co-workers feel better being around positive people. Smiling can also make you feel better about yourself. Smile at yourself in the mirror and you will feel more love towards yourself.

Smiling has physical benefits.
Smiling relieves stress and even can make your feel better physically. It boosts your immune system and smiling can even lower your blood pressure. Try smiling right now and see if it makes you feel more relaxed? Smiling will also cause positive chemical reactions in your body. It releases endorphins which are natural pain killers and it also releases serotonin which is the chemical that many anti-depressants help release. Why rely on a pill when you can do it naturally?

Smiling improves your appearance.
A person always looks better with a smile on their face and makes them more approachable. It makes you look younger because it's like a natural face lift. When you are smiling it makes you appear more confident, which make you more successful because confident people are more successful.

So make a note to smile more today and see if it improves your life.

Six ways to improve your people skills

People skills are important. Believe it or not, the grades you got in school and technical skills are not really what bosses are looking for in business. Sadly, most of the time schools tell their students to spend a lot of time concentrating on their studies, and they don't teach the importance of soft skills like communication. Social skills are usually not taught at all. So students put their effort into grades and their skills are unbalanced. Promotions are usually given to those with social skills. Quality of interpersonal skills is one of the reasons employees are promoted to higher positions and as people move up the ladder people skills become even more important. It's never too late to improve your interpersonal skills by reading books, or going to seminars and workshops. Here are some more tips to improve your people skills:

1. Be a good listener. Not only listen to people to be polite, but respect their opinions and give them constructive feedback.

2. Smile and say hello. We all feel more comfortable when around those who are friendly.

3. Involve others. Don't try to do everything on your own. Collaborating with others will let them feel more accomplished and will help them see the value in working as a team.

4. Spend time with colleagues. Join the bowling league or softball team. Spending time with each other outside of work can help boost the feelings of friendliness with others.

5. Pay attention to body language. Making eye contact, smiling, standing up straight, leaning toward the person one is speaking to, and keeping the body open are ways to make one feel more comfortable around you.

6. Be a positive and cheerful person. Develop a positive mental attitude. People are comfortable being around people who are easygoing, friendly, patient, and open minded.