The very best in me honors the very best in you.

Did you know that hope and optimism enable achievement? Apparently hope alters brain chemistry which influences our decisions and the actions we make.
I've been spending a great deal of my time thinking, discussing, and researching topics like hope, love, and goodness. How are they measured? Or quantified? What makes happy?

Lately my free time involves me, a yoga mat, and downward dog. I've stepped up my yoga practice in the last month and now more than ever  I am experiencing this mind body connection, with my breath working as the invisible thread that links the two.  I am more in control of my body than I've ever been and with that has come a sense of calm within that makes every day easier and better. Don't get me wrong, things don't always go my way and the firey Sicilian-Jewish blood makes an appearance just often enough to assure me that I still got it; however overall, I find, that I keep celebrating life.

So here are a few things I know.
The more I celebrate life the more life I have to celebrate.
The more I move from judgement to caring, isolation to connection, and indifference to understanding the more I love myself.
The more I love myself the more I love others.
The more I love others the more I experience hope, happiness, and optimism.

The dopamine pleasure surge is highest when people become fully engaged  in the practice of optimism, gratitude, hope, and an overall sense of well being. What gives us that surge?
Drugs, alcohol, over-eating, participating in acts of kindness, making choices and solving problems, engaging in physical activities, enjoying creative efforts, collaborating, etc... The more consistent we are in experiencing pleasure and rewards that come from physical activity, creative efforts, social interactions and over-all positive experiences the less likely we are to engage in risky behaviors that could bring harm to us and others.
Because I strongly believe we are all connected to one another, I often experience that sense of urgency that we must immediately begin to focus on becoming the very best person we can be. It is no accident that when you look closely into the eyes of another, the very first thing you see, is yourself. We are all somehow connected.

I'm going to be 30 in 2 and 1/2 months and decided that I wanted to conduct a small experiment for the remaining time in my 20s.
Everyday in April and May I am going to consciously engage in an activity that is dopamine inducing and on May 31st reassess my overall appreciation for life.
I invite you to join me. Keep track of your activity and feel free to share with others. If you don't feel better after 2 months, I'm sorry; I'll be sending you cosmic love... If you feel great, then please continue to celebrate and learn with me. Let's start to live vicariously through our own lives.

The very very best in me honors the very very best in you.

April: These 5 suggestions should be practiced on a daily basis.
1. Either in a journal or on post-its, document 1 thing you are thankful for. (Do this before bed every night.)
2. Practice seeing yourself through the eyes of genuine compassion. (Explore what that means for you.)
3. Tell yourself, every morning, that you are beautiful.
4. Do one thing everyday that you fear. (Borrowed this one from good ole Eleanor Roosevelt. But seriously, do it.)
5. Think good thoughts. Remember, we create the world we want.

May: These are only suggestions, mix and match, add your own... What's important is that you consciously engage in one a day.
1. Go to a laundry mat and leave 6 quarters on 3 separate washers.
2. Write a letter to a friend.
3. Prepare a meal for a homeless person and go deliver it to them.
4. Give an inspiring book away.
5. Put $10 on a random gas pump.
6. Buy a stranger a lottery ticket.
7. Give something awesome away on Craigslist or Facebook.
8. Go to a yoga class. x20
9. Be bold in your appreciation of life; make a list of 10 things that you are thankful for.
10. Send a sibling or someone like a sibling a small token of your love.
11. Go to a local coffee shop and treat yourself to your very favorite bagel and chai and then leave $5 to go towards the next person that orders.
12. Volunteer at a soup kitchen.
13. Find a hula hoop and HOOP!
14. Leave a yummy chocolate bar for a colleague.
15. Leave your favorite book in a public space with a note in it.
16. Send a stranger a letter! (This one is fun!)
17. Leave special something(vegan cookies?) and a note for your mail(wo)man.
18. Tell yourself that you are beautiful, creative, and intelligent...everyday.
19. Plant wild flowers in your garden... Or sprinkle them around your community.
20. Leave a dollar bill taped to a vending machine with a note that says "Pay it foward".
21. Tell one person every single day that you love them.
22. Tell yourself, every single day, that you love YOU.
23. Make eye contact and smile when you pass a stranger.
24. Offer to help a friend.
25. Bring a coffee in for your front desk receptionist.
26. Write your favorite teacher/professor a thank you note.
27. Take a walk in nature.
28. Pet a cat.
29. Buy someone a flower. (It's such a nice surprise to receive a flower.)
30. Create something. Sit down and paint a picture, write a journal entry, make a collage, build a birdhouse, or sew a pillowcase.
31. Do something that makes you feel OH SO GOOD!



"Happy people are as unique and beautiful as snowflakes, while unhappy people are tediously, monotonously, excruciatingly the same." Martha Beck.