When the summer arrives, so do the freckles on my face and body – and I love them!

Learning to appreciate everything that makes you unique, and to embrace the fact there is only one of you out of 7.8 billion people on this planet, is truly the biggest gift you can give yourself.

Self-love is the prerequisite for any other kind of love, so it’s wise to start giving yourself compliments and start developing internal gratitude for everything that is You – before seeking external compliments and validation from other people.

If you knew the power of your thoughts, you would never want to think a negative thought ever again. Every thought you think leads to an emotion in your body, that in turn leads to a behavior, so if you want to feel great about yourself, you have to think great about yourself. Treat yourself as you would treat your own very best friend and your happiness will no longer have to be dependent on external validation. It’s extremely liberating, completely free, and with a very high success rate!

You are the only person responsible for your own happiness, so why not start every day by giving yourself a big smile in the mirror along with some generous and loving compliments — and you will slowly start to see a reprogramming in your brain: your negative self-talk will turn into a positive and empowering voice. The brain doesn’t know if the smile is real or fake, but the neurological response is the same: the brain will think that you are happy — and act accordingly! In this case, you can basically “fake it until you make it”! Or, even more accurately, “fake it until you become it!” The more you smile, the more effective you will become at breaking the brain’s natural tendency to think negatively, as described in this article. In fact, a study from Penn State Univeristy showed people who smile even appeared to be more likable, courteous, and competent. In addition to making your day happier, a smile is contagious and a simple way to make someone else’s day a bit brighter. Smile and the world will smile right back at you!

In addition to smiling and giving yourself compliments, I’d like to share something that has really helped me over the years. Every night before I go to bed I think of three things I am grateful for with the day that just passed. This kind of gratitude practice makes me focus my energy on the things that work well in my life as opposed to feeding my brain with what’s not working. If you emphasize three things per day that bring you joy and gratitude, it will end up being 1068 things in a year! Slowly you start reprogramming your mind into gratitude, and appreciation for the little things and increase happiness! Is it very efficient and it does work. Try it yourself!