Hold a pencil between your teeth for 30 seconds and your mood shifts. The forced smile triggers a positive feedback loop where your body's posture and facial expression actually influence how you feel, especially useful during the stressful holiday season.
Good morning, everyone. Happy Tuesday. Here's your moment of yes for today. So have you ever done the pencil test? So go ahead and pause me right now. Find a pencil or a pen. All right, welcome back. Do you got it? We're gonna go ahead and stick it in our teeth and hold it there for 30 seconds. You ready? Go. 30 seconds. All right, that's good. That's about good enough. How do you feel? Now, believe it or not, it is impossible to do the pen or the pencil test and not feel better as a result. I think I have a guest joining me in the car right now. Hey, Shep! Hey! Shep is joining me. So it's impossible to do the pencil to pen test because what happens is as you hold the pencil in your mouth, it actually forces you to smile. And whether you're happy or not, the act of smiling, the longer you hold that smile, like say for 30 seconds, automatically actually puts you in a better mood. It is your body Affecting your thoughts. Our thoughts mirror our body all the time and vice versa. So even by putting ourselves in a positive body position, like forcing ourselves to smile, it causes our brain and our thoughts to catch up with that. What an easy, easy lesson. What an easy demonstration, especially right now during the holidays, that if we continually are conscious of ourselves, if we're conscious of our thoughts, great. To be conscious of our body and how we can just encourage ourselves to stay open, To stay positive, to put ourselves in positive situations, knowing that that has an effect on our thoughts as well. So catch yourself. Are you sitting in a negative body position? What expression is your face saying? Be conscious of your own body. Be conscious of your own body language. Because if you're not conscious of it, it might be actually negatively affecting your thoughts. I'm not sure if I actually said a word right there, but it works for me. Got anything you want to add, Shep? No. No? Look at everyone and say happy holidays. Happy holidays. No, the camera's over here. Happy holidays. Happy holidays. There he is. That's your moment of yes for today, everyone. Have a good day.
