Bring on Spring

ASK CYNDY - BEAT THE WINTER BLUES WITH THIS CAN OF WHOOP POW!

Finally, the Spring Equinox is just around the corner on March 20^th.   Cyndy, The Whoopie Queen, is here with ideas on how to shake off the winter blues.  The video above has three quick steps to bring in more sunshine using positive psychology with a splash of whoop pow.

Here are a few more ideas that I'll be sharing on my March Let's Talk Live TV appearance next week:

1. Get Lucky. 

Believe good fortune is coming your way.  St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner which has me thinking about luck.  In the book The Luck Factor there is a quiz and great tips on how to grow your luck.  How you feel about your good fortune influences what comes into your life. Perspective is everything.  See the picture below...turn it upside down.  

2.  Create a Happy Hour.  

The times, they are a changing.  Spring forward is here.  How about using it as a symbol to do something more productive with our time?!  Gretchen Rubin, author The Happiness Project, suggests creating a Power Hour to do forgotten chores once a week. No thanks. I suggest Happy Hour EVERY DAY that is used for self care. Recharge the batteries and reset your happy clock by taking time to call a friend, go for a walk, take a bath, meditate.

3.  Spring Clean Your Relationships.

• Let go of relationships that don’t support your dreams. 

• Surround yourself with people who reflect the person you want to be.  

 
4.  Grow Something Pretty. 
Here are 33 irresistibly Spring-rific things to inspire you.  http://www.buzzfeed.com/peggy/irresistibly-spring-diys 

Ancient Chinese Secrets to Good Fortune

How can you create good fortune?  Luck you long time.  That's right.  Believe that you are lucky.  Think that the good stuff is coming your way.  There's scientific proof it works.  In the  book The Luck Factor, by Richard Wiseman, there are oodles of studies on how mindset determines our fortune. 

In case you don't get to it, he outlines 4 principles:
1.  Maximize your chance opportunities.
2.  Listen to your lucky hunches.
3.  Expect good fortune.
4.  Turn bad luck into good.

Below are a a few more ideas to create good fortune that are tried and true.  They are life tested from my time involved in a women's empowerment group for ten years, and from 47 years of what I consider a life of great fortune.  Not really ancient Chinese secrets but they'll make ya go, "AHHHHHH, Calgone, take me away."  These ideas were presented at a speech I recently gave to a fab organization, FemCity DC.

More Ways to Make Good Fortune:

• Focus on what you want, not what you don't want.   This is the law of attraction here people.  It is the foundation of The Secret.  It is advice given by Conversations with God.  It is a principle I've learned in pursuing my positive psychology coursework.  And if that is not enough, Gandhi said it, "What you think, you become."

• Let the Bad Air Out – How do you stay joyful?  Know how to let the anger out. One way is to get physical.  Workout.  Move your body.  Hit the wall with a towel.  Some people need a more thoughtful process.  Journal.  Breathe.  Meditate.  Pray.  Drink.  Just kidding about the last one as a way to manage anger.  Might work for a while but not so good at really defusing the fuse.        

• Make Time For Yourself – Recharge your batteries. As they said in the Calgone commercials...ancient Chinese secret, ahhhhhhh.  We get depleted when we over serve others.  It is imperative to fill up with self care. Take baths. Manicures.  Walks.  Movies.  Lunch with a friend.  Art.  Fill up your cup with goodness.  
      

 • Have gratitude – Studies show the simple act of thinking grateful thoughts increases your serotonin and dopamine levels - those are the hormones that make you feel good.  When you get down with where you are and what you have, you make room for more goodness.  A few years back, I disliked being  a SAHM (stay at home mom), coming off of being a TV executive with nanny.  Then I got down with it and ate bon bons while I folded laundry and watched The View.  I embraced the time to BE, and became the most envied SAHM I knew.  Thereafter, it became the premise of my first standup comedy set.  
        

• Laugh – People who laugh seem happy.  One would think that about comedians, right?  In my travels at Showtime working with comedians, and more recently performing stand up at open mics, I've found that comedians are often highly cynical people.  Not a lot of joy.  But that is one of my goals at the mic...spread the joy.  If you've ever been to one of my performances, you know I have a good time laughing about my hillbilly relatives, my gray hairs, and my minivan.   Research shows that people who have big beams live longer.  Whoo hoo, that gives me more time to create good fortune.  

 

   Whoop POW!