Smiling comes easy for me. I wake up in the morning, put my feet on the floor and start humming a tune. Sometimes I even laugh out loud in my sleep!

To protect my health and increase my happiness I have made deliberate changes in my life. I avoid scary or sad shows; gone are the days of Criminal Mines. My time is spent with people who make me happy and I limit time with those causing me stress.

An interesting fact in an odd study of baseball cards from 1952 done by Abel & Kruger in 2010 found that the smiling players lived an average of seven (7) years longer than those without smiles. If that isn’t a reason to smile, I don’t know what else would be especially with that study I reported on in February about MS patients living six (6) years less than the general population. Here is how we can outlive our predicted mortality rate by one year!

Smiling can make you feel happier and others too even if it is forced. It can lead to laughter which improves sleep, lowers blood sugar and gets blood flow going. Smiling doesn’t come so easy for everyone so here are a few tips.

1 – Retelling funny stories from my past makes me laugh all over again.
2 – I seek out humorous shows and viral videos.
3 – Funny pictures bring a smile to my face. Following photographers on Twitter has provided me with a steady stream of funny and peaceful pictures.
4 – I learn new jokes to tell other people and then laugh with them.
5 – Spending time with people who make me happy insures a smile or two each visit.
6 – Exercise releases those smiling hormones and gives me that “runner’s high” I grew to love as an adolescent.
7 – Finding new hobbies, including this blog, has given me many reasons to smile and laugh.

Images from: Micky Mantel (died 64 years) thegoldensombrero.com & Al Zarilla (died 76 years) www.baseball-cards.com. Interestingly, I just grabbed two cards, one smiling and one not and then decided to check how old they were when they died.