6 Ways In Which You Can Be Happy, Right Now!

1. Be gentle with yourself and others. The place where you are right now is perfect for you look how far you’ve come. And how well you have been prepared to take your next big step.

2. As you become certain of the path you’re on, and the person you are, begin to appreciate other people’s gifts, as well as your own. Each of us is exactly where we need to be, and is no better or worse off than you are.

3. When you don’t live up to your dream, just notice what happened, learn from it, congratulate yourself on what you’ve learned, and move on.

4. Your rate of progress will be fastest if you don’t waste time focusing on negative thoughts. Keep choosing the positive point of view.

5. One concrete step taken in the right direction will take you far. Keep your attention focused, and avoid going off on tangents.

6. Practice makes permanent. Practice continually asking yourself, “Am I living my dream in this moment? What more could I be doing?”

Popularity: 13% [?]

Time Management: How to handle disruptions in your daily schedule

Time management is about taking charge of oneself. It is about accepting responsibility for our lives and what we choose to do with our time. Perhaps you have no problem acknowledging that you are, in fact, in control of your time, but in real life practice you may find that this is a bit more difficult to accept.

Every day life presents us with obstacles and issues that may conflict with our goals or with our schedules and it is easy to feel that you lack the control factor in all of this. But regardless of what happens to you that may affect your time management goals, you are always responsible.

At this point your goal is to overcome these daily obstacles with an attitude of a consultant. When you are faced with many choices of what decision to make, what path to turn to, or which way to handle a situation, pretend that you are a highly-paid consultant. I’m not talking about consulting other people, the key here is to be a consultant to yourself. When there is a decision to make that disrupts your daily schedule then ask yourself: “What does Mike have to do next?” “What would be the best use of his time, right now, within the current situation?”

By referring to yourself in the third person, you will be able to derive different answers for those that would come from thinking to yourself “What should I do next? How can I overcome this obstacle and still keep my time schedule intact?” Instead, by asking yourself in the third person, you will automatically visualize yourself mentoring another person, and the advice given will not be based on fear of what can go wrong, but rather from a neutral mindset.

Going back to time management and making the right choices, let’s quickly cover the subject of taking action once you have made your decision. Again, once you have hit a roadblock in your daily schedule, quickly assess the situation and visualize yourself as the consultant.

Then once you have come to the conclusion of what you need to to in order to rectify the problem, visualize then yourself quickly tending to the task at hand with vigor so that you can get back to your time schedule, and then do it! Take action immediately. Do not waste any thoughts wishing that you could be doing something else. Do not curse the fact that your daily planning is now off balance. Simply follow through with the issue and get back on track ASAP. Time management means to effectively handle surprise knocks in your daily schedule, not just handling the goals that you planned on paper the night before.

Popularity: 23% [?]

Why do we hurt the ones we love?

Have you ever been involved with an upsetting argument in the past with someone close to you like a friend, family member, or spouse? Of course you have, most everyone has had been upset with people they love.

What is ironic about these arguments is that we tend to say things in the heat of the moment to our loved ones that hurt their feelings. Many arguments that we have with the people close to us in our lives are ones that we wouldn’t even have with a stranger.

So why is it that when we are angry we tend vent this anger out to another person that is almost always somebody close to us like our spouse, our kids, or a close friend? Why is it that sometimes we treat strangers better than we treat our own family and friends?

It is obvious that anger does not look very loving when it is coming out. The ironic part about getting upset is that we do it most often to the people we love the most in our lives. There are times when we are having a hard time at home with our spouse or kids and treat strangers better than we are treating our family.

You see, the reason why we tend to show more of our anger towards our loved ones is because the more love that you feel towards a person, the more open your heart is. And the more open you are, the more vulnerable you will become to those you love. This is where the protective emotion of anger comes in.

When we choose to stay in a long term relationship and marry someone, all of our intentions are usually the very best. Most people do not plan on getting together only to have violent arguments and psychologically damaging each other. We happen to get into these senseless scenarios by being blinded and consumed by our fear and anger.

What starts out as anger quickly moves into violence when it stimulates retaliation and revenge. You have to be emotionally healthy in order to avoid these painful consequences.

You must always be conscious of your choices and be aware of your actions. Try to feel compassion while experiencing strong emotions. If you want to keep yourself and your loved ones safe during high emotional and stressful situations, then you must reach this point of mental awareness.

Popularity: 26% [?]

Symbols Of Love: Never Stop Giving Them

Love can be shown in many ways, but none are most important than little love symbols that can mean so much to your lady. A women needs to have symbols of love in her relationship. For example, when a man brings home flowers, they validate her beauty, femininity, and her love as being of great value. Women need to be given flowers and other related symbols of love, on an ongoing basis. To her, flowers are a symbol of a man’s desire to be with her. They make his love concrete. It is unfortunate, then, when a man assumes that she will tire of them and therefore stops giving them to her.

All forms of presents, big or small, all serve a very important romantic function. They help a women know that she is indeed special. She feels special when he treats her in a special way. Giving presents is a way of honoring a woman’s need to be reassured.

Little love notes are also an excellent and effective symbol of love to give to your wife or girlfriend. Although they are inexpensive and easy to give, love notes are reminders that simply reassure. It is not necessary to be original or even creative with your love notes. These little reminders can be written on cards that accompany a small present or flower, or they may stand alone. When giving a card, try hiding it in a place where your partner will be surprised. These reminders can also be expressed by surprise phone calls whose simply purpose is to say “I love you.” Stacy, a married woman in her early thirties says, “My husband leaves me a love note almost every day in my bag before going to work each day, and I never get tired of it. Sometimes when he makes me lunch before going to work, I open my sandwich to find another little sweet note. I love it.”

Many men have the natural instincts to know how and when to give symbols of love during the beginning of the relationship. They do not need to be reminded to go the extra mile for their ladies without being asked to. Flowers are given for no reason. Chocolates are bought just because he cares. Love notes are hidden in discovered by his lady without even thinking about it. But unfortunately these things stop after a while because the men mistakenly assume that the gesture will get old or is no longer necessary.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Does Status Increase Happiness?

Social status is alluring. Throughout history, people have believed that they could fight their fear of not being enough by rising in the social hierarchy. But status is a slippery slope. No matter how high you climb, there are countless people still above you. And there’s always a long way to fall if your fortunes should fail. If you compare yourself to the people above you in the pecking order, you’ll sabotage your self-esteem. If you allow yourself to feel superior to the people below you, you’ll live in fear of dropping to their level.

Feeling superior to others is always tempting, but it’s a terribly weak tool for achieving happiness. It may pamper your vanity but it will never bring you peace of mind. If status really made people happy, white-collar workers would be markedly happier than blue-collar workers, since they enjoy more status. However, according to all sorts of studies, they’re not.

One interesting study showed that teenagers - who tend to be even more insecure and status-conscious than adults - are not happier when they’re reared in high-status families. In this study of 1,000 teenagers, those in the lower social classes reported the most happiness, and those in the highest social classes reported the least happiness. Rich kids usually have so much of everything that it’s worth nothing.

One of the worst instigators of status seeking in our current culture is television, because of all its ads, and because so many people on TV are rich and beautiful. Among the most chilling studies on the effects of TV was one done shortly after it was introduced, in the 1950s. Because of government regulations, TV stations were first allowed to broadcast in just 34 cities in 1951, and then in 34 more cities in 1955. In 1951, in the first 34 cities in which TV was allowed, the rate of petty theft and larceny increased dramatically. Then, in 1955, the same increase in property crime was experienced in the next 34 cities. Researchers concluded that TV hyped material status so flagrantly that people became willing to steal to achieve it.

Furthermore, researchers noted that TV increased not only the desire for material status, but also the expectation of it. People felt they deserved status symbols after seeing people on TV with them. This expectation of status pointed out an important general principle in the science of happiness: Happiness depends to a significant degree upon expectations. If you inflate your expectations, you’re begging to be unhappy. That’s one of the worst problems with wealth - it always bloats expectation. Rich people whine about things that would delight most people. Happy people keep their expectations under constraint, no matter how much money they have.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Food Allergies May Cause Forgetfulness

Food allergies or sensitivities can trigger brain fog and forgetfulness in a number of ways. A food particle may leak from the digestive system into the bloodstream without being fully digested, and the immune system sees this harmless food particle as a potential invader.

White blood cells, blood vessels, and even distant organs, such as the adrenal glands,respond to the intrusion by releasing a torrent of biochemicals, including histamines, which produce allergic symptoms. An allergic reaction and its brain symptoms can occur within minutes or hours of eating the offending food, as the chemicals build up in the brain and cause inflammation.

Allergies to foods can trigger a variety of other symptoms, such as headache, sinus congestion, runny nose, cramping, diarrhea, and skin eruptions. Lesser known reactions include edema, sore throat, heart palpitations, anxiety, fatigue, mood swings, joint pain, irritable bowel syndrome, and migraine. Many people who have food allergies can eat the food to which they are allergic, but no more than once every three days—this is called a rotation diet.

Popularity: 20% [?]

Did my fears start as a baby?

The people who develop severe fearful reactions and panic attacks have been categorized as an agoraphobic. In searching for the answers to why this condition exists and why they are so overcome with fear to the point of vomiting and pain, we often spend our entire lives simply avoiding people and places that bring on panic attacks while ignoring searching for the core of the problem.

It is not uncommon for people who have agoraphobia (which results in severe panic attacks) to make their homes a personal refuge point. Their homes become the only safe haven where they will feel at peace or at least slightly less worried of having an anxiety attack than being out and about in the outside world.

Let’s start at the beginning. People who develop issues with fear (agoraphobia) are born with creative intelligence and an abundance of sensitivity to all kinds of stimuli. As a baby, we were the ones whom had trouble sleeping and would react strongly to loud noises, bright lights, hot and cold feelings, medications, etc. We had a hyper-awareness and a keen sensitivity that can also be interpreted as the biological predisposition to agoraphobia.

While other babies may feel comfortable with a certain loud noise or welcome sudden changes in light or temperature, you and I were extremely bothered and overcome with stimuli that it caused a nervous reaction. The same goes for certain medications. Not only were our external senses easy to set off with anxiety but also the way our bodies reacted to internal substances was not welcomed without a fight.

Often times when medication is given to babies that are showing early signs of hypersensitivity, our bodies give off stress signals that made us feel uneasy and the only way to deal with that feeling as a baby was to cry. As adults our bodies are now able to do a wide variety of stress outlet activities like the shakes, high temperature, vomiting, nervousness, tunnel vision, etc.

It is important for you to recognize and accept your inherent intelligence and sensitivity. However, it is equally helpful to realize that your environment during your early years had also played an important role in setting you up for later difficulties with acute anxiety.

Popularity: 16% [?]

4 Reasons Why Real Estate Is A Good Investment

Many years ago, the humorist Will Rogers said that real estate is the best investment in the world because it is the only thing they’re not making anymore. Today, even after a decade of roller-coaster real estate prices, it’s easy to see that Will wasn’t joking. From 1974 to 1994, real estate values in this country increased nearly 15-fold, out-pacing both the stock and bond markets. Real estate, however, has more than a limited supply and TV infomercials going for it. In fact, there at least four reasons why individual investors should consider sinking some cash into real estate once they’ve built a solid portfolio of stocks and bonds:

1. Real estate is an inflation hedge. When overall consumer prices rise, the value of so-called paper investments such as bonds sometimes fails to keep pace. Historically, however, the values of “hard” assets like real estate have kept pace with or outrun inflation. That’s because real estate, as a basic necessity, will always maintain its relative value against other assets as their prices rise.

2. Real estate historically lowers your overall investment risk and raises your returns. Less risk, but bigger returns? Sounds like a mistake, right? It’s not. Earl Osborn at the investment advisory firm Bingham Osborn & Scarborough in San Francisco has done numerous studies showing that real estate actually stabilizes an investment portfolio while increasing returns. For example, an investor who put 80% of his money into stocks and 20% into real estate from 1970 to 1993 would have earned more than 12% a year. Had he stuck solely with stocks, his annualized return would have averaged around 11.5%. What is more important, the portfolio with real estate in the mix actually experienced 6% less volatility. That’s a fancy way of saying that his investments didn’t bounce up and down as much as the stock-only portfolio. It’s worth noting, however, that Osborn defines real estate as shares of real estate investment trusts, a type of stock, which is among the safest ways for individuals to play the real estate game.

3. Real estate generates income. Buildings and apartments can produce significant and reliable cash flow when they are rented out to other people who live or work in them. This is true whether you own the property yourself or invest passively through real estate trusts, mutual funds, or limited partnerships. And reliable income is extremely valuable for investors.

4. Real estate is stable. Forget the recent upheavals in home prices. Over the long run, real estate has proven to be quicker to rise in value than to fall. Barring war or natural disaster, real estate holds its value or rises steadily in price over time. You can’t say that about all investment alternatives.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Stress and Cortisone

Most people do not realize how many of the common day-to-day sicknesses and illnesses are initially sparked off from stress. Stress then causes an entire chain reaction of bodily functions, with the first event being the release of cortisone.

A natural response to stress is the release of cortisone from the adrenal glands. The original benefit of this bodily function is protection from an instant allergy reaction, such as asthma or closing of the eyes, from dust that pops up from those items that irritate us. But if chronically elevated , cortisone destroys the body’s resistance to the stresses of cancer, infection, surgery, and illness. Every lymph gland in the body shrivels up and immune response weakens. The ability to fight off even the smallest of colds, especially any major illnesses, is greatly impaired.

Ailments caused from stress

As a common example, young kids are typically brought to the doctor with one series of infection after another for the first five or six years after starting daycare or kindergarten school. Now of course this is partially due to catching other germs and viruses from the children at school, but the truth is that most of the sickness that children get are caused from their immune system being overloaded with cortisone. This is due to the stress of leaving the “womb-like” comfort of the home for the general self-conscience and strangeness of being thrown into a society with their peers.

Adults will also notice this phenomenon when in a new environment. Teachers suffer frequent colds caught from their pupils during the first five years on the job. Pediatricians, however, have it even worse. They often go through five years of diarrhea while getting their training!

Stress reduces the stomach’s resistance

Chronic cortisone elevation also dramatically reduces the stomach’s resistance to its own acid, leading to gastric and duodenal ulcers. And farther along the bowels, colitis can be aggravated.

Bones are made more brittle by cortisone. Thus they could fracture much more easily. Blood pressure can be elevated by the retention of sodium, which can also push a borderline heart failure case into trouble. A most direct example of this is the common response of eating a diet high in fast foods, rich in salt, which is thus even more harmful than usual. Adrenalin is also released by the adrenal glands, and mediates a host of bodily reactions.

Popularity: 26% [?]

Make Every Day Special With Feng Shui

When you pay the kind of attention to order, aesthetics, and positive emotion that are a part of decorating a space according to feng shui traditions, you make every day special. Feng shui is the ancient art of creating harmony in your environment so that you will be able to live a balanced and beautiful life. Having this goal reflected everywhere you look within your home will help you feel pleased and contented throughout the day. With feng shui, you can learn to cherish the balance and beauty of each moment, even when you are going about tasks that used to feel mundane and ordinary.

Many of us have experienced the difference that improving our home or workplace atmosphere can make in our attitude. Think of the last time you decorated for a party, and how good it made you feel to infuse your environment with a feeling of festivity and celebration. Feng shui works in much the same way. With feng shui, you place objects with the goal of changing the energy in a room so that it will be more positive. Feng shui creates a feeling of balance, which helps give a space an orderly and peaceful arrangement so that you will feel calm and happy when you are there. This can help you look forward to every day, not just holidays.

With feng shui, it is easy to make your home or office feel like a special place even if you don’t know the first thing about interior design or aesthetics. When you decorate according to feng shui tradition, you follow a set of simple rules that will guide you as you create an environment that you and your loved ones will enjoy spending time in. Using feng shui as a guide to improving the look and feeling of an area will help you make the right decisions about everything from furniture placement to light sources. With feng shui, you will learn to create beauty so that you can enjoy it on a daily basis. When you re-create your home environment or your work space according to feng shui principles, you will be increasing the aesthetic pleasure that you get at all times.

There is no limit to how much incorporating feng shui into your home or workplace can improve your quality of life, or increase your happiness and sense of peace. Many people don’t think of themselves as aesthetically sensitive, but you will never know how much of a negative impact your décor and furniture arrangements may be having on you until you change them for the better and enjoy the results. When you spend time in an area decorated in a feng shui style, you will feel lucky to be a part of such a calm, ordered, and harmonious environment. With feng shui responsible for surrounding you with beauty on all sides, even the simplest tasks can become a treat.

Further Reading:
http://www.fengshuitips.co.uk/
http://www.viewzone.com/fengshui.html

Popularity: 12% [?]

← Previous Page — Next Page →