How to Make a Stranger Smile

Don’t wait for people to smile. Show them how. Let your guard down. Talk to someone you don’t know straight from your heart. Compliment them. Don’t anticipate awkwardness. Just be you in that beautiful way only you know and give them the chance to smile and connect with you. Remember, your best friend was once a stranger too.

Here are a few ways to make a stranger smile.

•  Smile often.
•  Hold a door open for someone.
•  Pay for the person in line behind you.
•  Send a handwritten thank-you note to someone who assisted you with something.
•  Clean out all your old clothes and donate them to someone in need.
•  Give a compliment about a waiter, waitress, sales clerk, cashier, etc. to    his or her manager.
•  Compliment a stranger’s appearance. Flatter them.
•  Leave encouraging post-it notes in library books and other random places.
•  Help an elderly person carry something.
•   Send flowers to someone anonymously.

A Few Uses for Cucumbers

• Cucumbers contain most of the vitamins you need every day, just one cucumber contains Vitamin B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Zinc.
• Feeling tired in the afternoon?  Put down the caffeinated soda and pick up a cucumber.  Cucumbers are a good source of B Vitamins and Carbohydrates that can provide that quick pick me up that can last for hours.
• Tired of your bathroom mirror fogging up after a shower?  Try rubbing a cucumber slice along the mirror.  It will eliminate the fog and provide a soothing spa-like fragrance.
• Are grubs and slugs ruining your planting beds?  Place a few slices in a small pie tin and your garden will be free of pests all season long.  The chemicals in the cucumber react with the aluminum to give off a scent undetectable to humans but drives garden pests crazy and make them flee the area.
• Want to avoid a hangover or a terrible headache?  Eat a few cucumber slices before going to bed and wake up refreshed and headache free.  Cucumbers contain enough sugar, B vitamins and electrolytes to replenish essential nutrients the body lost, keeping everything in equilibrium, avoiding both a hangover and a headache.
• Looking to fight off that afternoon or evening snacking binge?  Cucumbers have been used for centuries and often used by European trappers, traders and explorers for quick meals to thwart off starvation.
• Have an important meeting or job interview and you realize that you don't have enough time to polish your shoes?  Rub a freshly cut cucumber over the shoe.  It's chemicals will provide a quick and durable shine that not only looks great but also repels water.
• Out of WD40 and need to fix a squeaky hinge?  Take a cucumber slice and rub it along the problematic hinge, and voila, the squeak is gone!
• Stressed out and don't have time for a massage, facial or visit to the spa?  Cut up an entire cucumber and place it in a boiling pot of water.  The chemicals & nutrients from the cucumber will react with the boiling water, creating a soothing, relaxing aroma that can reduce stress.
• Cucumbers can eliminate bad breath.  Take a slice and hold to the roof of your mouth with your tongue for 30 seconds.  The phytochemicals will kill the bacteria in your mouth.
• Looking for a 'green' way to clean your faucets, sinks or stainless steel?  Take a slice of cucumber and rub it on the surface you want to clean.  Not only will it remove years of tarnish and bring back the shine, but it won't leave streaks and won't harm your fingers or fingernails while you clean.
• Works great to remove crayons and markers that the kids have used to decorate the walls!

Have a Heart for Farm Animals

Let’s face it: Farm animals have it rough. Sure, it’s all the problems related to factory farming, but it’s also just being, as one former president liked to put it, misunderestimated. Farm animals have fascinating abilities, quirky personalities, and many hidden talents that are grossly under-appreciated in our society. And now’s a good time to change that. Of course, there are millions of reasons to have a heart for the chickens, turkeys, pigs and cows, but here are five of my favorites.

1. Chickens may be the most romantically inclined of all farm animals. They create strong social bonds and, in a natural environment, males will call hens over to share their food, even picking up and dropping food repeatedly in front of a hen as an offering. Hens make devoted mothers, too. Research reveals that even before her chicks hatch, a hen will call to them, and they respond from within their eggs. John Webster, emeritus professor at Bristol University, said that the way a hen teaches her chicks what to eat, where to find food, and what to avoid “is pretty close to culture—and an advanced one at that.”

2. Studies prove that pigs are smarter than our canine friends. On video game tests (yes, pigs can play videogames using joysticks they control with their mouths), they can perform as well as primates. Like a cat’s whiskers, a pig’s snout provides her with heightened senses to navigate and interact with her environment. In fact, pigs’ noses are so sensitive that they can smell roots and tubers deep underground, a skill that’s been used for centuries to find truffles.

3. Science shows that cows are good at figuring out problems and take pleasure in finding solutions. Researchers who challenged cows to open a door to get food measured the animals’ neural activity and found that their “brainwaves showed the cows’ excitement [when they solved the problem]; their heartbeat went up and some even jumped into the air. We called it their Eureka moment.”

4. Did you know that Ben Franklin believed the turkey—not the bald eagle—should be America’s icon? “The turkey is in comparison a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America ... a bird of courage,” Franklin said. His admiration was well founded. These birds are smart, fast, and indeed brave. And turkeys have something in common with peacocks, too. Ever seen a wild tom (male turkey) trying to romance a hen? With his tail feathers stretching up and wings jutting downward, he doubles his size in an attempt to woo the apple of his eye.

5. Need a fifth reason to have a heart for farm animals? Like dogs and cats, farm animals are individuals with personalities, preferences, and most importantly, a desire to enjoy life instead of suffer.