Amy Cuddy would say so. Below is a super cool TedTalk that she gave a few years ago, in which she discusses her research on how body language not only changes the way people are perceived by others, but also the way we perceive ourselves! What I mean by that, is she suggests that our body language may actually influence our hormone production--including stress hormones, such as cortisol. I don't know about you, but I am all for an easy way to control the output of stress hormones in my day to day life! Check out her video below, if you have time today!

I recently watched this fascinating TEDxTalk given by Alison Ledgerwood. In 10 minutes, she describes how easy it is for our minds to get stuck in the negative. Makes sense to me, because we've survived as a species because our brains our awesome at sensing danger!  Danger in the past (and present) was/is equated with something negative. Our fight/Flight centers of our brains fire up when negative stuff happens, getting our bodies ready to act--either fight or run like the dickens (or freeze...but I'm not sure if you can freeze like the dickens...Heck I'm not even sure what "the dickens" is!) 

However, Alison gives some super fascinating statistics in her talk  about her research in how our minds get stuck in the negative.  If you have a chance (10 minutes only!), check it out below. She also makes a good case for beginning a gratitude practice as a way of retraining our minds to get out of the negative. So, What are you grateful for you today?

Alison Ledgerwood joined the Department of Psychology at UC Davis in 2008 after completing her PhD in social psychology at New York University. She is interested in understanding how people think, and how they can think better. Her research, which is funded by the National Science Foundation, investigates how certain ways of thinking about an issue tend to stick in people's heads.

September 11 happened earlier this week. It's a day that causes pause for many of us. While reflecting on the collective grief that 9/11 holds for this country, I decided to re institute my (errr....Mother Theresa's actually...) "be the change you want to see in the world" motto by re-committing to my daily yoga practice. I turned to my favorite YouTube Yoga Teacher,Lesley Fightmaster, for direction. Here's the first of her 30 Yoga for Happiness videos. Why not give it a try? Surely you've got 30 minutes to commit to yourself, don't you? 

Welcome to Hatha Yoga Happiness. I'm thrilled that you're here!! Day 1 starts off gently and focuses on gratitude (no big surprises from me...right?). Remember...gratitude is an action and the more we practice it, the happier we'll feel! BTW-These yoga videos are great to practice in the morning if you can.