You can eat all the right foods, take the right supplements, use all the right products, but at the end of the day, how you feel shows up on your face.

Taking a holistic approach to beauty means more than just using clean, natural skincare and cosmetics: it means being kinder to yourself in every way. Taking time for yourself to bask in appreciation for the life you live or the world around you is just as important as any beauty or fitness routine. When you put yourself on the back burner, it catches up to you. First you feel it, then you see it.

So I challenge you to ask yourself: What makes you smile?

I asked myself this question today.after working three days in a row with no sleep. I was exhausted, mentally drained, and wondering why God didn't make two of me!

But just like that, I stopped what I was doing and went to the office window, and just stood there because I hadn't seen the sun in days. And what to my wondering eyes appeared: I counted five-- yes five--hummingbirds in flights of fancy with each other. It was truly a thing of beauty.

And for a brief moment, I forgot about all the clutter in my mind and I smiled. I mean I actually felt myself smiling....it was nice.

We get wrapped up & bogged down in our personal and work lives all too often, trying to be this and that for everyone around us, and we forget about ourselves.

So, I’ve decided that I need to work more of these little “mental health moments” into my day.

I also got curious and went searching for some other creative ideas on how to do it to share with you, so without further adieu, here are 15 easy ways to give yourself a quick happiness boost:

1. Open up your notes app in your phone and list 3-5 things you can appreciate right here, right now.
2. Make a cup of green tea - it gives you a subtle caffeine boost, but its L-theanine content simultaneously calms you, giving you a nice steady energy to get you through the rest of your day.
3. Write the name of a person in your life who you love and take 2 minutes to list all of the things you love about them.
4. If you have time, take a 10 minute walk.
5. Take a minute to acknowledge your achievements. Sometimes we’re in such a hurry to get to the next thing on our list that we forget to appreciate what we’ve accomplished! I’m especially guilty of this, and it makes a world of difference to celebrate the little wins.
6. If you have a task on your mind that you have to complete and it’s stressing you out, write it down. If you have the time at night, mapping out your next day on paper can relieve that feeling of having the world sitting on your shoulders when you wake up in the morning.
7. Start your day by sending an appreciative text to someone you love.
8. Do a face mask before bed.
9. Strike your favorite yoga pose in your office when you feel yourself getting stressed.
10. Try a quick breathing exercise, like holding one nostril and breathing in for 8-10 seconds, holding it for 3 seconds, then holding the other nostril to blow out your breath on the other side. This sends more oxygen to your brain and wakes you up a bit!
11. Eat a piece of chocolate.
12. Drink a glass of water! If I had a nickel for every time I was cranky and realized I was just dehydrated I’d have a whole lot of nickels…
13. If you’re inside, look out your window and notice the colors of any trees, flowers, or other plants around.
14. Download a daily devotional or an affirmations app on your phone and flip through some motivational quotes for a few minutes until you feel yourself lighten up.
15. Doodle! (An oldie but a goodie…)

Did any of these tips jump out at you or make you smile just reading them? Add them to your own list! We all need to be reminded to stop taking life so seriously sometimes, and I hope this gave you some valuable tools to add to your “happiness toolbox”.

If you have more to add to the list, leave a comment or follow us on Instagram or Facebook to share with us!