How your breathing habits affect your mental health, a fantastic online resource from the Smithsonian Institution, why you need to have more bad ideas, and a useful tip for your next Zoom meeting. This week’s good news.

We’ve all been told to “just breathe” in moments of anxiety, but did you know that the way you breathe really does have a huge impact on how you feel? Check out this article for a fascinating breakdown of the relationship between breathing and mental health – and some actionable tips for improving your breathing habits going forward.

Here’s an amazing resource from the world’s largest museum: The Smithsonian Institution has just released millions of images from their collections to the public domain. This is great news for artists, students, and armchair scholars everywhere. Have fun browsing their database!

Have you ever lost motivation for a passion-project you were working on because you thought someone else had already done it better? This article by author Seth Godin is exactly what you need to keep the wheels of inspiration turning. Here’s our favourite quote from the article: “Befriending your bad ideas is a useful way forward. They’re not your enemy. They are essential steps on the path to better.”

Okay, let’s admit it: when it comes to Zoom meetings, we all have a tendency to focus on our own image instead of the other person’s. Luckily, there’s a simple solution – just right click your video and choose “hide myself”. Now you can stop worrying about your flaws (not that you have any) and focus all your attention on the other person. To restore your image, just right click on anyone else at the meeting and click “show myself”.

Awww of the week: a relatable cartoon for teachers (or anyone with small children).

See you next week!

Rona Birenbaum is a certified Financial Planner and is licensed to do financial planning. Rona is registered through separate organizations for each purpose and as such, you may be dealing with more than one entity depending on the products purchased. Rona is registered through Caring-for-Clients for financial planning services. This website is not meant as a solicitation for financial advisory servicesFinancial advisory services are available through the facilities of Queensbury Strategies Inc. Financial Planning is not the business of or under the supervision of Queensbury Strategies Inc. and Queensbury will not be liable or responsible for such activities.