Happiness is just a touch or sound away!

Emotional flotsam looks for an anchor, and if you understand that and consciously choose your cues, you can be on top of your emotions and choose the way you feel at any time!

Have you ever experienced a fleeting, unattached memory that has surprised you, coming as it does from nowhere, often in the middle of an activity that is completely unrelated? For instance, sometimes, I suddenly remember the street corner my home was on several years ago; other times I am revisited by a clear vision of myself on the emerald greens outside a British castle I visited more than a decade ago! You wonder what triggered the memory of that seemingly inconsequential moment, but then shrug and move on.

However, several visitations later, you realise there must have been something special, almost magical about that moment, which visits you repeatedly across time and space, even though you cannot figure out what. Most probably, it was the emotion attached with it.

I have long wondered and worried about such emotional flotsam that evokes uncalled for memories or momentary emotions that pass on. In fact, science has a term for it ­ involuntary memory, when cues from everyday life evoke past recollections without any conscious effort on our part. It is almost like these moments or incidents are attached to a stimulant or trigger one is unaware of ­ ever heard of the concept of anchoring emotions? Experts explain that most of us can and do anchor emotions onto activities, even to simple acts.

Our sensory experiences get associated with incidents and trigger memories. Sometimes the intensity of a moment in which you were completely present in the `now’ gets associated with a smell, an action, a sight or a sound, which will always whisk you back to that moment. So the smell of a barbecue may remind you of a bad moment you had at a picnic many years ago where there may have been a barbecue around without your remembering it.The sound of a buzzing bee may transport you to a pleasant moment in childhood. Did you know, when a woman plunges her hand into her oversized bag and withdraws the exact lipstick she is looking for, she is relying on her haptic touch memory?

Scientists suggest that sensory memory -memories triggered by sound (echoic), smell (olfactory), sight (visual), taste or touch (haptic memory) -bypass the logical part of the mind and travel to the seat of instinct and memory, the primitive part of the brain. And so, sometimes memories and sometimes just the emotion associated with them can be vividly recalled upon being presented with the trigger. A study at the National Institute of Neuroscience in Turin, Italy, reveals that the same part of the brain involved in processing our senses is also responsible for storing emotional memories. So that effectively explains the involuntary memory recalls and fleeting emotional impressions we may get at times. Though mostly a subconscious association, therapists suggest this knowledge can be used to create voluntary connects that can help people. For instance, if while feeling an intense emotion such as happiness, you have been in the habit of rubbing your fingertips to your forehead, the same action in the future can instantly recall that happiness all over again even without any other trigger. This can effectively be used in moments when you desperately need a dose of happiness.

This ability helps patients in the process of recovering from emotional turmoil. Those affected are advised to avoid actions that are associated with memories that tear them apart. This lessens the frequency and intensity of the painful memories. And with a focus on actions or sensory experiences that evoke happy memories, the process of healing can be hastened. Experts suggest that this can be done by repeatedly recalling happy healing memories and associating them with an action such as, for instance, opening your hand wide and shutting it.

Thus, by turning involuntary memory into a process of voluntary, deliberate recall of happy memories, one can walk around with a bagful of happiness, calm, positivity and healing available literally ­ a touch, smell, taste, sound or sight away.

5 Body Language Tricks That Give You Power

Over 7,000 different languages are spoken around the world—so many that linguists estimate one language dies out every two weeks. But one of the most important languages to your life, one that affects your every interaction with others, is communicated without a sound.

Your brain is hyper-sensitive to body language, reading and judging others by their movements and postures on a subconscious level. Body language is perceived by a more primitive part of the brain, the limbic system. Directly connected to the visual and premotor cortexes, this information bypasses your conscious processing center, giving you an innate understanding of whether a person is weaker or more powerful than you without them saying a word. Whether you’re feeling nervous, aggressive or confident, your motions will silently communicate how you’re feeling to others.

Luckily, understanding body language cues can help you project confidence and avoid weakness. Tonight, Brain Games investigates the science of power poses; and these five moves equal dominance:

1. Show your thumbs.

Do you fold your hands or fidget with your fingers when you speak? Pay careful attention to your thumbs. The thumb is your dominant finger, strongest in motor function, and its movement can reveal to others how you’re feeling. When you’re feeling confident or powerful, your hands literally become more territorial, expanding the space between your fingers.

On the flip side, this space disappears when you feel insecure or stressed, causing you to tuck your thumbs under your fingers. As a result, others may see you as fearful or lacking confidence if your hands are fidgeting and your thumbs hidden, as seen in this woman below. 

2. Teepee your fingers.

If your hands dictate how others judge your confidence, teepeeing your fingers is the ultimate power play.

A popular move among world leaders, placing your hands in a steeple gesture signals confidence and dominance over others, indicating that you’re thinking or evaluating something. To achieve this posture, lightly touch your fingertips together with your hands pointing up, in the shape of a church’s steeple, like the man below. The light touch is important – using this posture too forcefully can convey arrogance. Similarly, pointing your hands downward in this motion can show that you’re attentive and listening to someone, a move you also may want to use.

3.  Hold your head high – and don’t touch your neck.

If you’re feeling nervous, focus on keeping your hands planted in front of you. Touching your neck is a common self-soothing action people use in responding to stress. Your neck hosts nerve endings that reduce your blood pressure and lower your heart rate when stroked, so people instinctually reach for their necks when they’re nervous and need to calm down. When you rub the back of your neck, fiddle with a necklace or fix your tie, you’re signaling to others that you’re in distress.

Touching your neck isn’t the only way to signal nerves. When you’re lacking confidence in your situation, your neck even starts to disappear, as your shoulders rise and your head sinks in. Neck shrinking is also a cue for lying or deception. So if you’re feeling nervous in an unpleasant situation, fight the urge to behave like this distressed-looking man below. Keep your hands away from your neck and hold your head high.

4. Take up space.

Posture is another crucial body language cue. Taking up space by making yourself larger indicates power, while shrinking into your chair or slumping over a smartphone dictates the opposite.

Researchers have found that posing expansively results in elevated levels of testosterone, the hormone linked to confidence and power, and decreases cortisol levels, which may lower anxiety. Another recent Harvard study concluded that that practicing expansive poses before a high-stress setting, like a job interview or presentation, can improve performance.

If you want to command respect from others, stand or sit up straight and keep your arms uncrossed and away from your sides. However, expanding your body too much – like this man below – can indicate aggression. Be wary of encroaching on other people’s personal space.

5. Stand up.

Elevating yourself over other people is a serious power pose. Standing commands attention and respect from others, while sitting down is more passive.

If you’re really trying to dominate in a situation, stand and lean slightly forward, placing your hands down on a table. Whether you’re finishing a presentation, negotiating a situation or closing a deal, standing and leaning forward shows to others that you’re in a position of dominance.

source- Nationalgeographic