7 Simple tricks

I love a good piece of academic work that makes you smarter, more enlightened and successful in just a few seconds. Therefore let me share with you the findings of Thelma Nobel, a researcher from the University of Tel Aviv, who has specialized her studies in the field of making ones daily life easier and more pleasurable. Anyone care to place a wager?

Open windows and curtains

Feeling a little blue? Open up the curtains and the windows. Daylight provides vitamin D, and furthermore your brain associates the color white with happiness. Just as long as it’s not a horribly grey day when you draw the blinds, you should begin to feel much better.

Dear cocaine

I always have to think back to Elton John’s ‘letter to cocaine’, written when he was in drug rehab. By writing his farewells to his bestie (Ol’ Charlie) the idea was that it would make it easier for him to leave his addictions behind.

Thelma says that people who carry a Big Secret (to pick a random example: having a child that is fathered by someone other than your husband) are physically less strong because the secret weighs down on them. If you are to write your Big Secret a letter, bid it farewell and then later burn the letter, then the burden will not be so heavy.

A touch of pink

Pink is unconsciously associated with positivity. Hence the expression ‘looking through rose-colored glasses.’ Thelma gave a number of her subjects pink pens to write with and results showed that they were much happier than others from the same group. Looks like I’ll be writing with my pink pens again; dotting my i’s with little hearts along the way.

Bend your arms

Did you know that you’re more inclined to make impulsive purchases if you are shopping with a basket than if you shop with a trolly? When pushing a trolly your arms are extended before you. Your brain reads this gesture as a defensive position, thus protecting yourself some from impulse behavior. A basket dangling in the hollow of a bent arm, particularly the bent arm itself, represents nurturing, to cherish something, (think of your position when holding a baby) leaving you open for new things.

In the supermarket maybe its best to choose the trolly over the basket, but during a creative process bending your arms may in fact help you.

Great heights

When attending a meeting find the highest chair to sit on (adjust your office chair if need be) and if you want to say something, then stand. Why? Height is associated with power. Another tip; have photo’s taken from a low angle perspective. People who have been photographed from below are more inclined to be invited to job interviews and they also score better on dating sites. It’s just a tip.

Whenever I’m in Rome, there is a bar there that I love to go to, simply because I find the the owner, Carlo so impressive. After six months of drinking my daily macchiato there, Carlo came out from behind the bar to give me a good bye kiss. To my surprise, he was as short as I am. The back of the bar was raised so incredibly high, giving sweet Carlo an air of power and superiority.

Open your arms

When people sit with their arms apart, legs stretched out in front of them, or even better sitting back with feet up on the table like a boss, you make more testosterone than when you’re sitting in a closed or huddled position. During a meeting, find yourself a position where you have enough space around you to move freely. Based on the science, it is suggested that just before an important meeting or a performance, take a few minutes by yourself to do some broad, opening gestures with your arms to increase your testosterone, helping you to feel and appear stronger.

Serve sweets

If you want something done my someone else, literally sweeten them up. Try offering them a piece of chocolate cake or a macaron. Apparently the other is then more likely to do more for you. I’m now seeing all those cappuccinos fed to me by those terrible managers in a whole new light.