Lifestyle Blog

Originally this was going to be a list for my two teenagers but some of these ideas are better suited to adults with a valid driver’s license and a bit of know how. Some of these take a bit of planning and organizing, but most of them could be done on a fairly spur of the moment case by case basis. The great thing about a lot of these ideas is that you’re spreading holiday cheer by helping to make someone else’s otherwise stressful and overwhelming to do list a little bit easier. Who wouldn’t pay to have someone come do a few of these things for you? Mostly, what’s important is that you remember to provide a quality item or service to the buyer with a smile on your face and in your heart. Have fun with these!

1. Baby-sit for people who need to do some shopping without their little ones tagging along. Anyone trustworthy who is over the age of about thirteen or fourteen can do this one. It’s hectic enough to get in and out of the malls and shopping centers without having to drag toddlers along. Contact friends, family, coworkers, and members of your spiritual community to let them know that you’re available for holiday babysitting. This can include time that the parents need to get away for office parties, charity events, and volunteering to help the elderly and less fortunate members of their community. Read the rest of Several Ways to Create Some Extra Holiday Money »

Custom jewelry includes any jewelry that is made according to design details provided by the buyer. There are various reasons why jewelry buyers opt for custom jewelry instead of buying standard ready made jewelry.

The main reasons for ordering custom made jewelry would include the following. Here you are…

Requirement of a very specific design that is not common and popular

A family ring would be a good example of custom jewelry. A buyer who loves cats and dogs might want to have a ring that shows a cat and a dog sitting next to each other on the same ring. The probablility of getting standard jewels of this type is slim and custom jewelry is the only option.

A design that is a combination of other designs

Buyers often come up with requirements that can combine certain features of two or three rings into one single ring. The texture from one ring might be combined with the gemstone mounting of another. When such specific requirements are revealed, custom made jewelry can deliver the exact results required.

Requirement of high end craftsmanship

Standard mass produced jewelry does not have the kind of high end craftsmanship that is expected for custom jewelry. On the other hand custom jewelry is almost always produced in single pieces and requires individual attention from skilled craftsmen. Most of the work for custom jewelry is done by hand and perfect hand finishing is provided.

The need for large sized jewelry

You might find the perfect ring of your dreams, the design and gemstones could be exactly what you want however, your ring size might not be available. The choice in such a case is to order custom jewelry that is specifically made to your size requirement.

Here is some advice on buying custom jewelry…… Read the rest of Custom Jewelry, Information and Buying Tips »

4 Powerful Ways to Fire up Your Motivation

It’s so difficult to go on when everything seems to fail, isn’t it? Are there times in your life when you really want to call it “quits” because you just can’t see any good results from all the hard work you’ve done?

Hold your horses!

Never ever think of giving up. Winners never quit and quitters never win. Take all negative words out of your mental dictionary and focus on the solutions with utmost conviction and patience. The battle is never lost until you’ve abandon your vision.

But what if you’re really exhausted physically, mentally, and most of all emotionally? Here are some sources of motivation to prompt you in reaching the peak of accomplishment.

1) The Overwhelming Feeling of Attaining your Desired End

How would you feel after accomplishing your mission? Of course you will feel ecstatic. You might be shedding tears of joy. Let this tremendous feeling sink in and encourage you to persist despite all odds.

When I was studying for the Board Exams, I used this technique to motivate me. I would envision the sweetness of folks calling me a CPA. It would command respect. People will look up to me as a higher level of authority. And I would have better chances of finding a good job. I absorbed all these great perceptions into my inner being in order to achieve my ultimate goal.

2) The Reward System

How would you feel if you’ve entered a contest, but there are no prizes for the winners? It’s not very encouraging, isn’t it?

The same principles apply to your vision. Reward yourself after accomplishing a goal. Set a particular incentive for every objective.

Let’s say if you’ve achieved a particular task, you’ll treat yourself to your favorite restaurant. When you’ve finished a bigger task, you’ll go on a vacation.

Got the idea? Read the rest of 4 Powerful Ways to Fire up Your Motivation »

Make your goals achievable.

By achievable, we mean attainable and realistic. You might unconsciously have set a goal even others will have a hard time achieving, even if they had the means and the time to do so.

Here’s what you can do: break down your goals into small, realistic goals set against reasonable time frames. Oftentimes, you’ll achieve your bigger goals if you work on achieving the smaller goals leading to those. The important thing is making your goals as realistic and as achievable as you can.

Devise a feasible plan.

You know what you want, but do you know how to get what you want? Do you need technical or artistic training to achieve your goals? Or perhaps further studies? Do you have a set plan of action that will lead to the achievement of your goals? What things, both tangible and intangible, do you need to aid you in reaching your goals?

Take a moment to sit down and list the things you need and make your action plan. This is a good time to break them down into small, realistic goals and then tackle them one day at a time!

Resist spreading yourself too thinly.

Sometimes, it’s better to work on one goal at a time, rather than doing and shooting for so many all at the same time. Work on so many goals at one given time and you’ll find out you’re nowhere near achieving even one goal. You won’t be able to focus your full energy on one goal.

Prioritize your goals and start with either your top priority or your most realistic goal. You’ll discover you’re able to do more and achieve more using this approach.

People who consume alcohol in moderation are healthier, yet the relationship between alcoholic beverage preference and health benefit or risk has not been extensively investigated. In a new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Barefoot et. al. surveyed alcoholic beverage preference in a large and homogeneous group of highly educated upper-income Americans and found that beverage choice has implications beyond the relative physiological benefits of alcohol. Wine drinking has consistently been associated with reductions in cardiovascular risk due to the presence of polyphenols in wine, but in the current study wine drinking was additionally correlated with healthier overall dietary and lifestyle choices. Conversely, the authors suggest that concurrent diet and lifestyle patterns may explain the higher rates of morbidity and mortality among nondrinkers.

The 2,864 men and 1,571 women participants, averaging 48 years old, were part of the University of North Carolina Alumni Heart Study, a long-term investigation of cardiovascular risk with a special emphasis on psychosocial variables. The study population was unique in that the subjects had a wide variety of alcoholic beverage preference (beer, wine, spirits, or no preference); and they were 99% Caucasian, affluent, highly educated, and from the same geographic region.

Health and lifestyle differences were greatest between participants who preferred wine and those who preferred other alcoholic beverages or were abstainers. Women reported healthier dietary habits than men, regardless of alcoholic beverage choice. Men and women who preferred wine consistently consumed less saturated fat and cholesterol, smoked less, and exercised more than those who preferred beer, spirits, or had no preference. Abstainers, who made up 20% of the subjects, have been shown in previous studies to have higher disease and death rates than moderate drinkers. Negative health and lifestyle factors among the abstaining subjects, including lower intake of fruits and vegetables and higher rates of smoking and red meat consumption, may explain why non-drinkers have poorer health than drinkers.

An implication of the study is that the benefits of wine drinking may not be merely physiological; preferring wine as an alcoholic beverage may be part of an overall pattern that leads to better health. The authors suggest that future research might focus on dietary and lifestyle differences between those who drink and those who abstain, as well as on the relative health advantages of alcoholic beverage choices.

Source: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Family.. Home.. Backyard cookouts. A table laden with more than we can eat on Thanksgiving day. These things ground us, offer us stability, and give us an environment where we can learn, explore, grow, and even self-actualize.

Yet for 210 million children, these basic human needs will never be met because most of these children will come of age in an institution, never knowing a family, never experiencing the warmth, joy and acceptance of a home environment.

These children are orphans. And for them, finding a family is like winning a lottery. It is a dream come true, when all the pieces fall together and home becomes a reality.

Those who never find a home face hurdles and burdens that no child should bare. They face years of loneliness and despair. Many fail to thrive in their institutions, most experience developmental/language delays and grow slowly. A general rule of thumb, children raised in orphanages lose approximately 1 month of linear growth for every 3 months in orphanage care.

The good news is that many of these children will make a complete recovery after adoption. Within just a few years, some of them will have caught up physically, mentally, and emotionally to their home grown counterparts. Others progress more slowly, but they all progress given the right environment.

Many warm, loving families want to bring these wonderful kids into their homes. To take them in, love them, nurture them, and support them. In fact, there are many couples who would jump for joy at the chance of adding an orphaned child to their family. Adoption fees, court costs, attorney fees, immigration fees and so on quickly pile up. Before a prospective couple or family can even begin to look for a child, they know theyll have to overcome the biggest hurdle of all the $20,000 or so price tag.

Unfortunately, most good, prospective parents cant afford to pay even a fraction of these costs. So the children sit and wait.

Private and community efforts can change all that they can bring orphans home to the loving parents that so desperately want them.

Just imagine seeing the glee in a young boys eyes the first time he sees his new home. Not just any home, but one with a mom and dad he can call his own.

You can help make that happen as a volunteer and donor for A Childs Desire or any one of many organizations which provide financial assistance for adopting families. And A Childs Desire makes it easy for individuals and groups to get involved in a volunteer program and to play a central role in providing adoption grants for children who have waited in an orphanage for more than a year for a family to choose them.

Youth groups, scout troops, social clubs, etc. can sponsor a child and if all goes well see that child find a family and a home just for him. There are volunteer programs suited for home-schooled teenagers, for college students and for senior citizen centers.

Even if you are unable to adopt a child yourself you can still make a difference by volunteering your time or through making a donation, which will enable another family to overcome the hurdles of adoption. All children deserve to have families and homes. Don’t make a lonely child wait, together we can make his dreams come true.

A More Effective Way

I own a stack of self improvement books ten feet tall. Achievement seminars I’ve attended number in the dozens. I had been trying to improve myself since the second grade when Mrs. H. burst my young bubble. Although I went on to fourteen more years as a star pupil, I never forgot the way she made me feel - not good enough. And through the years whenever a co-worker, boss, or customer questioned my motives or integrity, I felt those same feelings - of being not good enough. So what went wrong with my self improvement stint? I tried dutifully to follow the advice in all those books and workshops, showing me what to do and how to be. But, time after time, I failed.

I have come to learn that I did not fail…what I did do was try to copy the efforts of others and expect results for me. My perceived lack of success came from trying to change myself. And, I was forcing on myself the methods and skills that weren’t me!

Discovering and embracing your own authenticity is the more effective way toward achieving fulfillment in life. Want to be a better boss, more valuable volunteer, finer parent, more creative employee? Be yourself. Know yourself. Uncover and use your inborn strengths and your natural talents. Your authenticity, then, will serve as the foundation for all you are and do. Lead, manage, parent, create, love…all from this base of authenticity. Then, and only then, those enhancement skills- time management or assertiveness skills for example- will work in balance!

Authenticity

Authenticity, I have found, comes from a combination of engaging your talents, loves, and gifts; being autonomous (self-directed); and relating to your external world in your way- not as a copy of someone or something else. In their book Why We Do What We Do (?1996 Penguin USA), Edward Deci and Richard Ryan note that some of the signs that hint we are moving towards authenticity include having a feeling of competence and being effective, feeling free to choose based on wise decisions, and a certain connectedness to the world. Read the rest of Authentic Success »

Life is all about choices. And so is the way you communicate. You can fill your days with frustrating high stress communication or you can have days of low stress effective communication with your peers.

Now take a moment to learn three ways to have low stress communication.

1. Recognize Positive Intentions

When someone you are talking to is unkind, negative or downright rude it is easy to get annoyed, angry and even aggressive. However this will just makes the situation worse and even faster than you can imagine. There is a better way. Instead look for the positive intention of the person you are talking to. What do I mean?

Ask yourself, what is the positive intention behind this behavior?

If the person you are talking to is angry maybe the positive intention is to express some hurt or frustration. What is important is looking for a positive not to get the correct answer.

When you assume the person has a positive message hidden underneath the negative exterior you will have more compassion and patience and you will not feel so stressed dealing with the individual.

2. Choose Your Own Emotional State

I talk a lot about the importance of managing your emotional state. Why? Because it is an essential life skill.

Unless you are in charge of how you feel your ability to communicate effectively will always be limited and dependent on other people.

When you are in a potentially stressful situation and everyone around you is losing their cool this does not mean you have to join them! You will be able to contribute a lot more if you remain calm and centered.

Staying calm and resourceful is a choice you can make. Unfortunately it is all too easy to be a sheep and simply follow the crowd. Nobody says you have to be a sheep! Instead make a point of keeping yourself in a resourceful state.

3. Step Outside The Situation

Whenever I am in a highly charged situation I will often step outside the situation, in my mind. This helps to defuse the event for me.

You can do this too. Simply imagine that you are at the other end of the room watching the interaction between you and the other person or people. It is as if you are a neutral observer with no emotional involvement in the discussion at hand.

When you do this you will think of ideas to handle the situation better and you will also feel less bothered by the stress of the other people.

This is one technique you need to play with first in easy everyday conversations. Once you get familiar with it you will find it easy to mentally step outside the event while still participating with the people in front of you.

Stress or relaxation which do you prefer?

The decision to publish a book is very exciting! It causes the creative juices to flow and the eyes to light up. But wait – before you begin the publishing process, know about the seven most important steps you need to know before publishing your book. Make sure that you take every step into careful consideration so that your road to success is an easy one:

1. Know why you are writing a book. Are you writing your memoirs for the family, are you writing a community cookbook, are you writing a book of regional interest or are you writing a national bestseller? All of these goals are valid, but each goal has different implications for your business plan. Know why you are writing and know that you can create that bestseller if that is your goal.

2. Treat publishing as a business. You are passing beyond the realm of author into the exciting world of publishing. You are not just a writer, you are about to become a publisher who wants to produce a profitable book, and you want to keep the profits for yourself.

3. Write a business plan. Being aware of the business aspect of publishing is not an end in itself, you need to formally write your plan. It does not need to be a fifty page document with every accounting possibility recorded, but it should outline all of the costs that you will encounter from obtaining the necessary funds to knowing the price of mailing a book. The business plan needs to account for future expenses as well as pre-publication expenses.

4. Plan for publicity and marketing. You must plan for the publicity and marketing of your book. You can have the best book in the world, but if no one knows about it, no one will buy it. You don’t want to print books that sit in your garage. You want to print books that will sell, sell, sell!

5. Write about a subject that you know well. Don’t write about something that you can’t talk about without effort. Write about a subject with which you are very familiar and that excites you. Writing the book will establish you as an expert in your field, so choose the topic that causes everyone you know to come to you for advice. The publicity will then be so easy that you will love being the “star”.

6. Know who will buy your book. So many authors think that “everyone” needs and should buy their books. Not so. Perhaps “everyone” needs their books, but not “everyone” will want to buy. Research and know WHO will actually WANT your book and market, market to them. They will buy!

7. Look for non-bookstore markets and do not be afraid of the large discounts. Bookstores are a hugely important market for most authors, but they are far from being the only place to sell books. There are many non traditional markets that buy books in large quantities with no returns. This is a great market – sales made are guaranteed sales not consignment sales. Do not be afraid of the larger discounts when you make those large volume sales. The books you sell are actually SOLD.

Think how much more pleasant a journey is if you know which fork in the road will lead you to smooth driving and which fork in the road will lead you through potholes. Knowing the most effective publishing steps before you print will make your publishing career fun and profitable.

I remember, June was your birthday. Just want to say for you my lovely brother, Happy Birthday!! In this moment the statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest, because time itself is like a spiral, something special happens on your birthday each year.

Well, May you can gain your end in this time. I was believed you can reach it. It’s not a matter about a chance, but it’s a matter of your choice brother! The destiny is not a matter to be waiting for, but it’s a matter to be achieved! Just Go On! I pray for your success Fiddunya wal Akhiroh!!

Once more! – B`day Testi