At the least you’ll make yourself feel a tiny bit better, and as long as no one sees you grinning at the screen while reading this they wont think you’re crazy either.

I’m smiling as I write, but I don’t know if it will affect / infect you through the digital ether.

Smiling is free, it is pleasant, and you can share it with everyone you know, and even some you don’t.

Hang your smile on someone else’s face. Share it!

One example for myself is in eating more fruit. I know that I know about its goodness, yet I know I don’t fully realise that goodness in my diet.

So this Life Hack is more of a Sensible Hack. After all, it makes sense to do what we know will get good results in the long term.

It has now become a morning ritual to start off the day with at least one fruit. So with breakfast done, I’m at least part way through this Sensible Hack of the day.

Parkour practice includes proprioceptive training, increasing the spatial awareness of one’s limbs, which increases your body’s capabilities to do things that might otherwise seem impossible.

I can’t say I’m training heavily, or even do a tenth of some practitioners of the sport, but being able to navigate obstacles without seeing them as obstacles is a good mindset to cultivate. Such a mindset has wide ranging application.

It makes sense therefore to cycle more, particularly on short journeys. Often this can be done door to door, with no time wasted on searching for parking, walking between stations, or bus stops even.

There is the added benefit of having the journey count as calorie burning exercise too, which is a big boost if you’re on a diet.

Put more cycling in the travel cycle and the benefits will keep rolling in.

Our biceps at the front of the upper arm tend to be much stronger than the triceps at the rear, probably because we use them to lift against gravity. Yet two thirds of the upper arm size is attributed to the triceps.

Strong triceps can be the difference between just “falling over” and “falling over and conducting improvised dentistry”. So to keep teeth in place if going on an unexpected ‘trip’ regular press-ups can help.

Again rather cheekily, if I wake up in the morning face down, I only have nine left to do after I get up.

Building increased fitness each and every day by a modest amount of exercise is a simple process.

You don’t have the time to go to the gym/workout/exercise/whatever-else? I have found that, if I replace the time spent thinking about this with action, I can actually do a modest amount of exercise . The effect of the exercise rapidly accumulates over a number of days.

Why make the investment in exercise? The return on the investment is quicker recovery time if injured, and better ability to deal with the stresses of life.

The stomach muscles are responsible for many body movements and by doing at least ten sit-ups per day I enable the tower to grow daily.

After getting up in the morning I’ve only nine more left to do.

With time we slowly lose the flexibility we once had, but the loss is gradual. So gradual in fact, that we may only notice the lack of flexibility when trying to do something we did a number of years before. Then we realise the gradual loss has accrued to quite a significant amount, such that we are now unable to complete the activity, or do so with increased difficulty.

With each passing day we lose a minute amount that the act of stretching will ensure we retain. Stretch each day and give the gift of flexibility to an elderly person – that is, to yourself in the future!

(A useful site with stretching exercises I stumbled into is http://www.thestretchinghandbook.com/ )

Hmmmm. Shaving every other day is sounds healthier as well as quicker the more I read about shaving foam.

Electric razor anyone?

Happy baby, happy parent, and happy family.