The Villain Within
turned that villain’s accusation into a self-fulfilling prophecy by the way you carry yourself. Spend the next few days observing yourself and other people. Pay attention to how you carry yourself and how others carry themselves. You will see all postures and styles, but your subcon- scious will clue you in to what you like and what repels you. The point of this exercise isn’t to be someone you’re not. You may observe someone with swagger—who’s strutting around like the king of the roost—but that may be so far from who you are, it would be silly to try to be that type. What I am talking about is taking the time to check how you’re presenting yourself to the world. Check your physicality numerous times during the day and try to smile, stand, talk, and gesture in a manner that represents the best you. If God walked into the room you were sitting in right now and said, “Pull up a chair and tell me something going on in your life,” how would you sit? Would your shoulders be straight? Would your eyes be half shut or wide open? Would you be atten- tively listening or just waiting to talk? Create a role model in your mind (God is good, but anyone will do) and pretend they are al- ways watching. Not only will these physical traits become a habit, they will create a by-product so much bigger than you think. What do you think a smile is worth? Did you know there have been numerous studies done about the power of a smile? This absolutely blew my mind! Some day when you have time, try Googling “effects of a smile.” I recently learned that when you smile, your brain says, “I thought we were stressed, but may- be we’re not, because we’re smiling.” Stress literally goes down immediately when you show the pearly whites. Your subcon- scious is so powerful that it’s able to tell your brain, “Hey, every- body, we’re smiling! We must be happy!” The science and the studies prove that if you smile more, you’ll live longer, and it will actually lower your blood pressure. You’ll make more and better friends, and it will actually improve your marriage. A doctor took a collection of high school photos and studied the people with the biggest smiles in the yearbooks compared to the people who took yearbook pictures with a serious
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