Top 8 Tricks and Treats for Your Mind

As a young child, I remember a time when you had a choice of tricks or treats during this time of the year.  We never wanted a trick because it didn’t include candy – the treat.  Did you know we can trick our minds to change our lives?  The human brain is a powerful organ that can be trained. The Dalai Lama, Buddhist monks and some of the world’s leading neuroscientists all gather once a year at a conference on the latest discoveries in neuroplasticity: the study of how the human brain can change itself.  I decided to list some of my practices that you use to trick or treat your mind into feeling happy.

My Top 8 Tricks and Treats for Your Mind

1. Hang Out with Smiling People

2. Be a Smiling Person Yourself

Each time you smile you throw a little feel-good party in your brain. The act of smiling activates neural messaging that benefits your health and happiness.  The feel-good neurotransmitters dopamine, endorphins and serotonin are all released when a smile flashes across your face as well.

3. Treat Yourself to a Tasty and Healthy Meal

 Check out this article from ‘Today’

How Eating Right Can Make You Happy

4. Think of Things to Be Thankful For

Maintain a Daily Gratitude Journal

 

5.  Be Present/In the Moment

Take a minimum of 15 mins a day to either pray silently, meditate, breathe, focus on an interesting object or sit with nature

6.  Listen to Feel-Good Music

Find that song that makes you feel happy.  Here’s a link to a popular one:

Happy by Pharrell Williams 

7.  Exercise

It has been proven that exercise releases chemicals into your brain called Dopamine.  It is a neurotransmitter in the brain that’s necessary for feelings of pleasure and happiness.

8.  Don’t Resist Negative Emotions

 Many of us experience the emotion of fear or hurt.  Recently, I had an opportunity to practice NOT resisting fear that overcame me at bedtime when I was alone at a Bed & Breakfast Cottage that was far away from friends and family.  After following the steps below while lying in bed, the emotion became weaker and weaker until I was sleep before I realized it was gone. I slept well for the remainder of that night and the next.  It works. I dare you to try it for any negative emotion.

Steps to NOT Resisting Negative Emotions:

Stop resisting it – locate where in is in your body and welcome the emotion

Send it love – imagine sending light of love to that area and you can place your hand on that area – imagine that light of love filling up your entire body and going out your fingers

Take a deep breath and realize what’s behind that emotion – ask your fear: Why are you here? and ask yourself: What is the need behind my fear that isn’t being met?

Promise to meet your need – what are other ways that you will fulfill that need

Say Thank you – and let your emotion go (if it hasn’t disappeared already)

I hope that you will practice all or some of these tricks and treats for you mind so that you may live a sweeter life.

Share with us your some of your tricks by leaving a comment.

Here is a link on mind tricks to play alone or with others:  http://www.viralnova.com/instant-optical-illusions/

Learn more about this topic from this book:  Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves by Sharon Begley

 

Don’t Mind Me

Queen She