Hi Friends,

I've been chillin' in Fort Lauderdale Florida for the past few days, soaking up some serious sun, working on my tan, and enjoy my boyfriends family. Over the years we have gotten closer and closer, I have to say, I love them like they are my own. I love traveling and working on the road, there is a feeling of accomplishment when  I churn out a post. It's incredibly hard to bypass beach time, trek up to my room and jump on my computer. #iloveflorida #beachtime 

 

I was approached by @oggreatness on Instragram to be interview for her very own #20mostbeautifulwomen campaign. I was honored to be considered and hope she's was inspired by my interior as well as my exterior. I know I'm a beautiful woman, but I want to be known for my compassion, my knowledge and my attitude more than my amazing cheekbones and rocking body. This will be my first interview, hopefully the first of many. 

This weeks Self-Improvement Challenge is to talk to strangers and I wanted to address such a bizarre challenge. We have been taught at a young age to avoid people we don't know like the plague. In recent years technology has consumed our culture and most people don't even have to talk to their friends and family anymore, we can send an email or text to everyone, non-verbal communication has enhanced and distorted our world. So why would I make you jump out of your comfort zone and talk to someone you don't know?? Because there are many scientifically proven benefits that show talking to strangers can improve our mental and physical health? #talktostrangers

Don't believe me? Here are a few facts to prove my point. 

Studies show we gain joy from conversing in our personal relationships, new research has found we also experience happiness from chatting with people we don’t know

“Human beings are really built for social interactions, what’s kind of surprising and novel about recent findings is that we can get remarkably similar benefits from interacting with people we don’t know so well, and again we think that’s something that’s probably deeply rooted in human nature, but maybe we’ve lost sigh of [it] in modern culture

Dunn’s research found that when we approach strangers with kindness we ten to be happier and less moody with loved ones than if we’re just efficiently going about our days an ignoring other people. 

Elizabeth Dunn, a professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia says 

- source 

Mary