Our body and mind needs a break from the routine, monotonous, dull and stressed life hence we long for a break – a holiday.  Our body and mind need to be refurbished; we cannot overlook importance of rest, sleep, leisure, and frolic. Some people just laze around and enjoy their holiday, while some have a list of activities to complete, some serious folks complete their backlogs, while some watch movies over few pegs. Everybody has some agenda: serious, funny, entertaining and lazy, but holidays are must.

It’s sad to see that some people feel guilty to take a holiday and enjoy it; they don’t understand that they treat themselves badly by doing so.  It is sad to note that some people have not taken a deserving break for years together. They keep postponing their holiday.

Do you know, physicians recommend a well planned, deserving holiday to recoup our fitness? A good vacation allows us to travel to long distance, see new places, eat variety of food, meet new people and most importantly allows us to be with our family. Regular movement like walking, climbing, jogging, running, swimming boosts our blood circulation, helps relax muscle cramps, ups our heart rate and thus makes our immune system better!

Without the stress of job/business our body gets enough time to repair the system. It’s a commonly accepted reality that people can get rid of some chronic disorders such as back pain, joint pains, migraines, acidity, and sore throats while on a holiday.

The claustrophobic city atmosphere is sickening; the congested roads, surrounding areas, offices, heaving public transport everything makes breathing difficult. Our lungs need clean and fresh air; in fact 72 hours of pure and fresh air helps them to become healthier, and remember this is once in a month. So friends, how much we torture our bodies. A break is necessary to stay alive. Take a trip to a rainforest, a beach, mountains to see the lush green forests, lush green fields, sturdy mountains, walk in the beach sand, stroll in nights watch the starry sky, see those great architectural monuments, visit some religious place, meditate, watch some opera, meet your friends with whom you have lost touch, rewind old memories, feel nostalgic to pamper your mind and body. When you feel good and breathe freely your lungs disperse the accumulated carbon monoxide and feel lighter, and suck in air better.

Take a break to feel inspired. It is proved time and again thatvisiting interesting places inspires people and helps them bring back the lost zest. Dormant and stagnant surrounding makes anybody bored and dull; a good sunlight is guaranteed to cheer you by pumping some good endorphins into your body.

Reconnect with the outside world and heighten your senses. Enjoy some good beverages, good food. Stale, cold food, cigarette smoke, air-conditioned stuffy rooms, computer screens, and other pollution sickens and affects our sense of taste and smell. When you go for a long distance outing you relish some good food of the land which evokes your taste buds.

Lower stress levels and peace of mind quiets the stressful mind. A good holiday is essential in helping you catch up on lost sleep. Perhaps the deafening city roads with congested traffic, ugly office politics, demanding bosses and demanding home work, nasty colleagues and neighbourhood only raises unwanted cholesterol and triglycerides in body. So it’s time to chill out.  By doing so, please your spouse, your parents, in-laws and kids. Be happy and spend some quality time together.

A study conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan found that taking a walk among trees and nature, as opposed to an urban environment does improve your short-term memory by twenty 20 percent. According to the researchers of this study, nature is filled with intriguing stimuli, which modestly grabs attention allowing most of suppressed interests and talents to come on the surface.

How long was it when you saw the hues and shades of yellow, green, blue, sea green, brown and pink of the nature? The early morning sky, the green sea, the pinkish dusk, the greyish nightfall, the fragrance of flowers, the green hills – I mean the abundance of Mother Nature. The sheer range of colour, tone and shapes in Wild Flowers is breathtaking. The revolting city skylines, the polluted air, the dull street lights, the crowded transportation, the bumpy road, the faded building facades slow down our zeal and enthusiasm. Do you know this dullness goes into our brain cells? It   reduces our body and mind’s efficiency. We therefore, need stimulants to ensure our productivity, our innovativeness, and our peace of mind.

Put your routine life on hold for some time. Reinvent your original self, stir up the romance in your life, feel fresh, look good, feel youthful take – that deserving holiday. Take a break!

Why has Mona Lisa’s painting remained so famous? It is five centuries old, but it is a favorite painting of all times. I think the probable answer is her inimitable smile. A simple smile can break barriers; it can prevent apprehensions, misunderstanding, ease tensions, create acquaintance, improve mental, physical, emotional & spiritual well-being, improve social conditions, give a feeling of sincerity and care all of this leading to goodness. It is so easy to smile, but we make the process difficult.

Psychiatrists suggest nervous and tense patients to smile more often. However fast fashions and styles may change, a genuine smile will never go out of style. Do you agree? And, each person has a different smile, because each one has a different motive and cause to smile. A smile can brighten people’s day in a second, it makes the receiver appreciate and acknowledge you instantaneously. It is not less than an act of worship. Keeps you face illuminated with a constant smile & see how your life changes! Yes, It changes your destiny.

One simple smile has the power to calm fear, insecurity, hurt, and anxiety. It has the power within it to change the world because smiles can be shared. They are contagious. When you smile at another person you pass all the wonderful benefits of smiling on to that person. In the worst of situations in life, some people have that beautiful smile with which they can ease tension of the situation. One of aunts had this cute smile, she had to struggle hell of a lot, but she always won all those scuffles and skirmishes in her life with her sporadic smile. I think she got life’s courage because of smiling. She would visit the neighboring houses in their times of grief, she could console people with her magic touch and her curing smile. I believe that it’s during tough times a resolute smile is needed the most. In a grim atmosphere you need a person who can lighten the moment with an assuring smile.

There have been many interesting studies conducted over the past few years which speak of the magic and power of a smile. The human brain has two circuits for controlling smiles. The cerebral cortex controls the conscious smile while the deep, primitive brain structure handles the expression of emotions. Do you know the drop-jaw smile is an exaggeration due to the jaw being lowered? This type of smile is commonly seen among public figures when giving speeches or at press conferences. Those public figures include politician and celebrities, who understand the importance of laughter. This is an enforced smile to keep the crowd in control.

The extension of this smile technique to win over people quickly is the turn-away smile – as the individual also comes across as youthful, playful and creative. It is actually a hybrid expression where the smile signals welcome, whereas the motion of turning away gives the signal of evasion. To illustrate, most men cannot resist if a women smiles coyly in their directions. Also, when a female gives the turn-away smile, it invokes parental male feelings, making men want to protect and care for the female. Some actresses are quite adept at using this technique to captivate the hearts of fans.

What do understand when a person gives you a close-lipped smile? In which the teeth aren’t displayed. This smile portrays that the person is hiding something from you. So when a mischievous child gives this smile it for sure that he is hiding something from you. If your friend gives you the closed-lip smile, the clear message is that although your friend is happy chatting with you, he is not telling you the whole thing. He/she is not revealing the truth as it is.

When the tips of the lips are stretched without the teeth exposed, such a smile shows the harboring of a secret. It shows resentment in attitude. It also projects the person’s unwillingness to talk any further. When a person does not want to share personal information with you he/she is ought to give you a tight-lipped smile. The tight-lipped smile also evokes mystery and can be often seen in magazine pictures of successful politicians and businessmen. The picture clearly reveals they aren’t disclosing any of their key secrets; they are sharing in the interview only the broad principles for success.

A twisted smile or a lopsided smile –  it appears when one side of the lip moves upwards and the other side slants down causing the mouth to move in opposite directions and ending up in what seems to be a twist. This smile is interpreted as expressing mixed emotions. It projects sadness, worry or uneasiness, contrasted by the upward tilt which says that person is ready to discuss, he is in an amicable mood to talk and is not angry. To sum up, the lopsided smile signals various messages that can range from sarcasm or humiliation to biting wit.

A forced smile looks artificial and unnatural. This can be noticed specially when eyes are not engaged with mouth; resulting in the eyes looking dull or lacking energy. The phony smile gives the impression that we do not mean what we are saying – and it evokes a response of dislike of interest in social bonding.

But a genuine smile encourages others to smile back and convey an honest emotion because when we are smiling, we feel happier and this happiness is communicated to others. You will see the infants have a genuine smile.

And a scorn is an act of contempt; it shows someone being rude and reflects the lack of caring and empathy on the part of the person doing the sneering. During police interviews, for example, you will see a sneer on the faces of criminals.

So friends, different smiles have different interpretations. Smiles express a lot of unsaid emotions of people. But I am advocating importance of genuine smile at this point. A single smile, and how something so seemingly simple and effortless can inspire, affect, and set the attitude of a person’s day. A smile breaks down barriers, it diffuses tense or litigious situations, it fosters positive intent, and it inspires a child’s, parent’s, a patient’s, a student’s or colleague’s perception. A smile says the lot of who you are. It is one of the most powerful gifts that you can give to another person. That one simple gesture has the ability to lift another into a feeling of intense enjoyment, erase loneliness, and remove physical and emotional pain. It is an expression of courage and good will.

You have the power within you to create a smile. It is very powerful and doesn’t cost anything.  Whenever you smile at someone else they are very likely to start smiling too because a smile is infectious. Try it. Tilt up the corner of your lips at someone on the street, in a lift, in a bazaar, a mall, in hospital at the patients on the bed, in a professional meet, in a lecture hall anywhere…. and the chances are that you will make that person grin back at you.  It will raise a wave of happiness, energize the being. Maybe for a little while all their physical and emotional aches and pains will miraculously go away.