Ymag - Window for Action Loving Professionals

Dear Readers When was the last time you smiled whole-heartedly? When was the last time you expected a smile from a service provider and felt disheartened when you didn’t receive it? Land at a neighboring country in the South-east Asia and the board says “Welcome to the country of smiling people.” Why is smiling not so natural in India? A smile is a curve that sets everything straight. Why do we get lost in our own created complexities through unfriendly facial expressions? A smile is the light in your window that tells others that there is a caring and sharing person inside. Why do we live with our shutters down? Time to ask Y. WhY and how I should smile more often with more people and more situations and above all smile at myself. Start MAG – My Actions Game to remain a benchmark of smile. Cheers, Rajiv Khurana Editor PS – Please don’t forget to send your feedback at [email protected]. You may even call me at 9810211256.

#1

I hate to smile… 2-3

The New Anti-Ageing Secret

4

5 Reasons you should SMILE more

5-6

Daily deeds to make others smile

7

Dogs can recognize smiling faces

8

Tips Talk 9

Laughing Buddha 10

In this issue…

Y Window for action loving professionals

1

#15 June 1, 2013

Y Window for action loving professionals

2

When I was a child, I read somewhere, "Smile costs you nothing but buys everything.” I tried using it whenever I went to the market. It was indeed a great deal of hard work looking into the eyes of the sad, sullen or frowning faces and trying to give my self priced million rupees smile. Months passed by but my smile did not buy me even a single toffee. “Old sayings are never meant for serious action”, perhaps, became my first learning. Since then, I hate to smile. I think I am not alone. The world around is full of us. Just walk into any departmental store, a bank or even an amusement park, smile will always be conspicuous by its absence. We are serious people after all. We mean serious business. The service providers I have interacted with have almost common reasons for not smiling. They say: • We get paid for work. Hard work. Not smile. • We do not want customers to become over

familiar with us. They will take advantage of us if we smile. We don’t want to offer them extra facilities or discounts.

• Customers are always scared of complaining when we give them a serious no-nonsense look. This helps in keeping the complaint register lighter. It adds to our achievements.

• If an occasional customer goes away because we did not give him the right attention and smile, it sends the right message to our employers. Payment of peanuts cannot buy cashewnuts shaped smiles.

• Our customers are now quite used to us. If we try to give them a smile now, it will alert them. They may think that we have learnt another way to ‘con’ them.

Rajiv Khurana is a transformationist through co-creative energy of people for individual and organizational impact. An International Management Consultant, Trainer and Executive Coach by description, he is a well published writer, author and digital expressionist.

I hate to

smile…

#15 June 1, 2013

Y Window for action loving professionals

3

Sounds logical. I think not smiling takes a lot of hard work. Whoever said, ”When you smile you use 14 muscles and when you frown you use 79 muscles.”, is absolutely right. I wonder why such a strenuous effort of people like us gets un-noticed and un-appreciated. Lets step into the corporate corridors and peep into the daily happenings. We all give what we get. The frown from top to bottom passes with supersonic and snow balling intensity. You cannot survive in a competitive corporate environment without a tough faced competitive aggression. Even the business schools of repute understand the futility of smile. They do not teach it. Ask any boss and his reasons for not smiling will be almost the same: • The Boss is always right. Rough exteriors get tough results. Any

questions? • A ‘critical’ facial disposition helps in maintaining an alert workforce

exposition. [Sounds High!] • An occasional experimentation with smile because of the

recommendations by an expensive corporate trainer has always resulted in higher leaves, more monetary incentives, work allocation negotiations etc. The abandonment of smile brings the status quo back resulting in greater overall work harmony. Experience therefore is a great teacher.

• Frowning helps better in HRD [Human Racehorse Development!]. Imagine the plight of people when they receive a smile. What will be going on in the mind of the patient in the operation theater when the doctor smiles at him? How would the accused be thinking when he is in the interrogation chamber and the inspector smiles at him? Or imagine your plight when you get an occasional smile from the steward in an expensive restaurant when he places the ‘check’ in the folder before you. The smile could be deadlier than the bullet if you are facing the firing squad. Smile is a great deception. Deceptions are bad. Un-ethical. Be what you are. Few hundred frowns a day can keep the troublemakers away. Adopt this management mantra today.

#15 June 1, 2013

Y Window for action loving professionals

4

Never mind pricey anti-ageing creams, a simple smile could have you looking several years younger in an instant, a new study has revealed. German researchers from the Max Planck Institute in Berlin, found that smiley, happy people were more attractive and had a more youthful appearance than their solemn counterparts. The study asked 150 men and women to guess the ages of the faces from over 1,000 photographs and found that while neutral facial expressions generated the most accurate age guesses, happy faces were voted as the youngest looking. "Facial expression has a substantial impact on accuracy," says Manuel Voelkle from the study. "Those displaying happy expressions were most likely underestimated." The reasons behind the findings, published in the Psychology and Aging journal, is apparently down to how many wrinkles or 'laughter lines' a person has, as it makes it harder to guess their age. Researchers also discovered that older people were more likely to overestimate a person's age, whereas younger people were kinder and shaved a few years off. Female faces fared better and were judged as looking up to three years younger than men. These findings follow a recent study from the London University College, which found that being happy and cheerful could reduce your risk of premature death by 35%. Little can compare to the feeling of a deep, heartfelt laughing fit, so find out how being chirpy and full of laughter can enhance your health and well being (and even your love life).

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk

#15 June 1, 2013 The New Anti-Ageing Secret …and It's Free

#1

Y Window for action loving professionals

5

S Shows you are happy Even if you are not, why do you want to showcase a sob-story? Force yourself to smile and you will gradually fall into the act and feel of smiling. Call it somatopsychic relationship if you wish. Smile acts as a magnet to showcase your happiness. People get drawn towards you. Next time, if you can’t make it, fake it. The unwritten rule of marketing remains the same “Jo dikhta hai, so bikta hai.” Packaging matters. Improve your face-value.

M Makes others happy No one is ever fascinated with your gloomy face. Change it and they would love to keep looking back at you. Your smile is infectious. It ignites more smiles. Be the torch bearer of happiness all around. Let people feel rejuvenated whenever they come in your proximity. The more they come to you for re-fueling the more you become lovable and respectable.

I Increases your attractiveness Next time you see the mirror, try all the three faces. Smiling, frowning or expression-less. Decide what looks good on you. Your expensive clothes don't matter. Your impressive look matters and that is what people keep re-looking at and not the labels you wear. We all keep visual impressions about others. How do you want others to carry and preserve your impression?

Rajiv Khurana

CMC, FIMC www.thepersonnellab.com

www.rajivkhurana.com

SMILE acronym is the Intellectual property of Rajiv Khurana

#15 June 1, 2013

#1

Y Window for action loving professionals

6

L Leverage relationships World-over smile is the common language. It builds bridges amongst diversity. Birds of the same feather flock together. Smile is the common feather that creates links even when everything else is different. Have you ever seen two frowning guys having a long-lasting relationship? Smile acts as an important adhesive.

E Enhance your life While the cosmetic smile may help you in the short run, your life can take a different turn when your smile is a natural reflection of your personality. It takes time. Start smiling in your heart. Feel it inside you. You will discover a new you. Stay with yourself.

SMILE acronym is the Intellectual property of Rajiv Khurana

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. Leo Buscaglia

A smile is the light in your window that tells others that there is a caring, sharing person inside. Denis Waitley

#15 June 1, 2013

Y Window for action loving professionals

7

#15 June 1, 2013

1. Smile often. 2. Hold a door open for someone. 3. Send a hand-written thank you card to someone who assisted you with

something. 4. Give a compliment about a waiter, sales assistants, etc. to his or her

manager. 5. Compliment a stranger’s appearance. Flatter them. 6. Send flowers/chocolates to someone anonymously. 7. Send letters of appreciation to business owners/managers and other people

who support you. 8. Appreciate people the way they are. 9. Share your lunch or a snack with someone who doesn’t have one. 10. Check up on someone who looks lonely. 11. Tell your boss, teacher or professor that he or she is doing a great job and

that you appreciate what they’ve taught you. 12. If you overhear that it’s someone’s birthday, go out of your way to wish

them a happy one. 13. Ask someone for their opinion or advice. 14. Offer your seat to someone when there aren’t any left. 15. Wave to a kid in the car next to you. 16. Spread good news. 17. Repeat something nice you heard about someone else. 18. Remember people’s names and address them accordingly. 19. When you make eye contact with someone, smile. 20. Replace what you’ve used. For example, fill up the copier or printer with

paper after you’re done using it. 21. Listen intently to people’s stories without trying to fix everything. 22. Give words of encouragement toward someone’s dream, no matter how big

or small it is. 23. Ask someone who enjoys cooking for a recipe. 24. Let someone else eat the last slice of pizza or cake. 25. Help someone get your parking space in a crowded parking lot when you’re

leaving. 26. Ask someone you see every now and then if they’ve lost weight. 27. Do a little something extra to make someone else’s life easier. 28. Use all the manners you learned in Kindergarten. 29. Give without expecting to get back. 30. Say “Please” and “Thank you.”

Daily deeds to make others SMILE

#1

Y Window for action loving professionals

8

#15 June 1, 2013

A new Japanese study has indicated that dogs can recognise smiling faces, which researchers say may have helped them to live with humans. They can also learn to distinguish a smile, even on the faces of some strangers, said the study. The researchers led by Miho Nagasawa of Azabu University trained nine pet dogs using photos of their owners, who were smiling in some of the photos and looking neutral in the others. The dogs were trained to touch their nose to photos of their owner's smiling face. Only five of the dogs completed this training. These dogs were then shown photo pairs of smiling and blank-expression faces of unfamiliar people as well as of their owners. When shown photo pairs of either their owner or a stranger who was the same gender as their owner, the dogs selected the smiling faces more often than would be expected if they were randomly choosing a photo. "This study has shown that dogs that live closely with humans are also able to recognise positive facial expressions, indicating that these dogs have acquired the social skills helpful to survive. The ability to learn to discriminate human facial expressions must have helped dogs to adapt to human society," Nagasawa's team concluded in the study. The study was published in the July issue of the journal Animal Cognition.

Dogs can recognize smiling faces

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-05-14/pets

Y Window for action loving professionals

9 - Rajiv Khurana

#15 June 1, 2013

10 ideas to today

1. Write a love letter to yourself. It’s long overdue.

2. Make a cartoon of someone you love or hate.

3. Take pictures of smiling people around you. Start using the camera features in your cell phone.

4. See your childhood pictures. 5. Treat yourself. 6. See sunrise/sunset. 7. Smell a flower. 8. Share jokes with friends over Whatsapp,

BBM… 9. Sing your favourite song. 10. Laugh out loud for no reason. + + + Make your own list and share…

Y Window for action loving professionals

10

Y readers say Yes and whY-not

to positive action

Ymag is an initiative of YPROSINDIA, a social enterprise founded by Rajiv Khurana

#15 June 1, 2013

The laughing Buddha statue is a symbol of happiness and contentment. The Laughing Buddha is seen in different postures, each having a different significance. Buddha with a money bag and a gold ingot represents wealth and good fortune. The Standing Happy Buddha brings riches and happiness. Buddha sitting on a large gold nugget with a smaller nugget in his hand ready for giving to others. This position of the Laughing Buddha is symbolic of good luck. Buddha sitting with his fan hat on his head represents enjoyment and good fortune. Buddha holding a gold ingot with his hands upright signifies abundant riches and good luck. Buddha with a fan in one hand and wu lou (bottle gourd) in the other hand brings blessings and good health. The fan wards off misfortune while the wu lou protects from illness. Buddha carrying a bag of gold on his shoulder symbolizes prosperity. Buddha carrying a bag of blessings on his right shoulder and a fan in his left hand protects you and keeps you safe during long journeys. Buddha with a travel stick in his hand protects you from harm during journeys.