One of the practice that I shared with my student is to wake up with a smile.

The first thing to do upon waking up while still in bed, is to SMILE.

This is a celebration for life. Each morning is like a rebirth for us after one night of slumber.

Buddhist believe that a human life is most precious because it has all the right conditions to help one achieve Enlightenment.

So isn’t it great to be thankful for life as a human, for another day. New opportunities to train our mind and another new step towards enlightenment.

We have to really smile as wide as possible. Even if we feel cranky.

When I do this, my mood gets an uplift instantly. So I wake up less cranky.

I try to do this throughout the day too whenever I notice any negativities in my mind, especially sadness;

I force myself to take a deep breathe and smile widely. (when in office or in public areas, do so discretely. My colleague once caught me smiling broadly and was perplexed. It did spread and make her smile in reciprocation though)

I believe smiling has an uplighting effect. We are telling the mind , we want to be happy.

It works for me and I hope it works for you too.

No drugs needed to boost our happiness factor.