“Don’t worry, Be happy”, the song sung by Bobby McFerrine, is a good mantra or quote to carry around and have. It reminds us to be happy and not worry so much. It empowers us and gives us higher self esteem.Besides, worrying doesn’t usually change the outcome and research has found that it causes stress. Stress has a disastrous effect on your body, mind, health, and well being. It can even contribute and increase the chance of cancer and illness in your body. It has the opposite effect of empowerment on you.Being happy, on the other hand, has such great benefits to your general and mental health.Being happy also makes you feel happy and content. When you are happy and content, your self confidence is higher and you are better able to cope with everyday occurrences. You feel empowered and self confident.On the other hand, when you are having a particularly “bad day”, for instance, and you focus on how terrible your day is and continue to focus on your “bad day”, it tends to get worse. You get more and more upset. It snowballs and more “bad things” tend to happen. Everything bad that can possibly happen, does. You lose your self confidence and sometimes get depressed and disempowered.An example I would like to use is when a person is running late to an appointment. Everything that could possibly go wrong does, and then they become more late, which leads to them to become more upset and less patient. As they get less patient, they get more easily upset and stressed. It then becomes a vicious cycle. They feel disempowered and stuck in a rut or frustration and anger. To get out of that situation, you have to work hard to refocus your thoughts and start thinking of all the things that you are grateful for. You will have to retrain your thoughts and words and think positive thoughts and grateful thoughts. IYou may also have to do a lot of positive self talk to boost your self confidence and break the negative cycle that you are in.You may also have to focus on letting go of the fact that you are so upset. You will have to remind yourself that being so upset for being late or whatever it is that is bothering you, isn’t going to change the situation or outcome. It only leads to more stress, more ill-feelings, and more stress. Just letting go off the negative thoughts and refocusing on something positive around you (or the use of distraction), will starts making your day better and break the cycle. You will feel more empowered.What also helps is the act of smiling. Even if you don’t feel like it, just pretend to smile and pretend that you are happy. Smiling or pretending to smile starts to make you feel better and happier. It will then be easier to refocus on positive thoughts and feelings. You will also then build your self confidence and feel empowered. I heard that smiling also releases endorphins, the happy feelings hormone. When I smile and feel better, I also feel better about myself and become more self confident and empowered in knowing that I can control my feelings and thoughts and can break the negative cycle that I am in.