Dad was right all along – rock music really is getting louder and now recording experts have warned that the sound of chart-topping albums is making listeners feel sick.
That distortion effect running through your Oasis album is not entirely the Gallagher brothers’ invention. Record companies are using digital technology to turn the volume on CDs up to “11”.
Artists and record bosses believe that the best album is the loudest one. Sound levels are being artificially enhanced so that the music punches through when it competes against background noise in pubs or cars.
Britain’s leading studio engineers are starting a campaign against a widespread technique that removes the dynamic range of a recording, making everything sound “loud”.
“Peak limiting” squeezes the sound range to one level, removing the peaks and troughs that would normally separate a quieter verse from a pumping chorus.
The process takes place at mastering, the final stage before a track is prepared for release. In the days of vinyl, the needle would jump out of the groove if a track was too loud.
But today musical details, including vocals and snare drums, are lost in the blare and many CD players respond to the frequency challenge by adding a buzzing, distorted sound to tracks.
Oasis started the loudness war and recent albums by Arctic Monkeys and Lily Allen have pushed the loudness needle further into the red.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Californication, branded “unlistenable” by studio experts, is the subject of an online petition calling for it to be “remastered” without its harsh, compressed sound.
Peter Mew, senior mastering engineer at Abbey Road studios, said: “Record companies are competing in an arms race to make their album sound the ‘loudest’. The quieter parts are becoming louder and the loudest parts are just becoming a buzz.”
Mr Mew, who joined Abbey Road in 1965 and mastered David Bowie’s classic 1970s albums, warned that modern albums now induced nausea.
He said: “The brain is not geared to accept buzzing. The CDs induce a sense of fatigue in the listeners. It becomes psychologically tiring and almost impossible to listen to. This could be the reason why CD sales are in a slump.”
Geoff Emerick, engineer on the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper album, said: “A lot of what is released today is basically a scrunched-up mess. Whole layers of sound are missing. It is because record companies don’t trust the listener to decide themselves if they want to turn the volume up.”
Downloading has exacerbated the effect. Songs are compressed once again into digital files before being sold on iTunes and similar sites. The reduction in quality is so marked that EMI has introduced higher-quality digital tracks, albeit at a premium price, in response to consumer demand.
Domino, Arctic Monkeys’ record company, defended its band’s use of compression on their chart-topping albums, as a way of making their music sound “impactful”.
Angelo Montrone, an executive at One Haven, a Sony Music company, said the technique was “causing our listeners fatigue and even pain while trying to enjoy their favourite music”.
In an open letter to the music industry, he asked: “Have you ever heard one of those test tones on TV when the station is off the air? Notice how it becomes painfully annoying in a very short time? That’s essentially what you do to a song when you super-compress it. You eliminate all dynamics.”
Mr Montrone released a compression-free album by Texan roots rock group Los Lonely Boys which sold 2.5 million copies.
Val Weedon, of the UK Noise Association, called for a ceasefire in the “loudness war”. She said: “Bass-heavy music is already one of the biggest concerns for suffering neighbours. It is one thing for music to be loud but to make it deliberately noisy seems pointless.”
Mr Emerick, who has rerecorded Sgt. Pepper on the original studio equipment with contemporary artists, admitted that bands have always had to fight to get their artistic vision across.
He said: “The Beatles didn’t want any nuance altered on Sgt. Pepper. I had a stand-up row with the mastering engineer because I insisted on sitting in on the final transfer.”
The Beatles lobbied Parlophone, their record company, to get their records pressed on thicker vinyl so they could achieve a bigger bass sound.
Bob Dylan has joined the campaign for a return to musical dynamics. He told Rolling Stone magazine: “You listen to these modern records, they’re atrocious, they have sound all over them. There’s no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just like – static.”
Studio sound
— The human ear responds to the average sound across a piece of music rather than peaks and crescendos. Quiet and loud sounds are squashed together, decreasing the dynamic range, raising the average loudness
— The saturation level for a sound signal is digital full scale, or 0dB. In the 1980s, the average sound level of a track was -18dB. The arrival of digital technology allowed engineers to push finished tracks closer to the loudest possible, 0dB
— The curves of a sound wave, which represent a wide dynamic range, become clipped and flattened to create “square waves” which generate a buzzing effect and digital distortion on CD players
Friday, September 17, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Ten Tips Of How To Become More Creative
Don't you love it when your creativity manifests itself? Creativity brings us benefits that go far beyond artistic expression. Being a creative person can help you to be a better (and higher paid) employee, a better problem solver and an all around more effective person in anything you choose to do.
Even if you don't think of yourself as an especially creative person, you'll be glad to know that it's there within you just waiting for you to use it! Creativity can be expressed in many different ways. Plus, there are many techniques you can use to develop and nurture your natural creativity.
Like many people, you may think that you're either creative or you're not. What a myth! If you long to be more creative, then go for it! Here are ten tips you can use to become a new, more creative you:
1. Think of yourself as creative. We all have the spark of creativity inside us; it's just a matter of fanning that flame to keep it alive, as well as knowing where your particular brand of creativity is best applied.
* The first step is to know that you're creative. Think positively about this and work to see your creative side whenever possible.
2. Think creatively. If there are two solutions to a problem, try them both. Try out your new ideas, even if they seem a little outlandish at first. These fresh, outside the box, perspectives can lead to huge breakthroughs.
* Telling yourself that you're creative is only the beginning; try to think creatively whenever possible.
3. Put your new ideas into action. Don't worry what other people will think. By trying out your creative ideas, even if you don't succeed at first, you'll learn something and give your creativity a chance to flourish.
* Don't be afraid to try new things.
4. Don't over-think things; just go ahead and do it! Rather than thinking of all the reasons NOT to do something, think positively and take a risk. If you have always wanted to try writing or painting, just get it on paper (or canvas, as the case may be) immediately.
* Let your creative impulses run wild.
5. Be inspired! Pay a visit to a museum, take in a play, try going somewhere you've never been or seeing something you've never seen.
* Inspiration sparks creativity.
6. Make time for your creative outlets. We're all busy these days. Be sure to schedule some time for your creative pursuits. Put yourself in front of your instrument, your computer, or whatever your medium may be for a few hours each week and let your creativity come out.
7. Enjoy yourself. Make your creative endeavor a joy, not a chore. This will ensure the continued flow of creative energies.
8. Play creative games. This is a fun way to foster creativity! Get together with friends and play charades or another game where success hinges on being expressive and coming up with creative ways to communicate.
9. Try a new creative medium. If you have chosen a creative medium, try mixing it up when you get into a rut. If you write, try playing music. If you're a dancer, try painting - you get the idea.
* Shake things up to get some new ideas and perspectives.
10. Take a break! If you're stuck for ideas, don't sit there in your workspace staring at the walls. Even the most creative people need to take some time off. This can allow a blocked well of creativity to flow again.
* Get outside for a bit to recharge your creative energies.
Remember to be patient when nurturing your creativity. This shouldn't be a stressful activity. Make a habit of enjoying these techniques every day and one day soon you just may discover that you're one of the most creative people out there!
Even if you don't think of yourself as an especially creative person, you'll be glad to know that it's there within you just waiting for you to use it! Creativity can be expressed in many different ways. Plus, there are many techniques you can use to develop and nurture your natural creativity.
Like many people, you may think that you're either creative or you're not. What a myth! If you long to be more creative, then go for it! Here are ten tips you can use to become a new, more creative you:
1. Think of yourself as creative. We all have the spark of creativity inside us; it's just a matter of fanning that flame to keep it alive, as well as knowing where your particular brand of creativity is best applied.
* The first step is to know that you're creative. Think positively about this and work to see your creative side whenever possible.
2. Think creatively. If there are two solutions to a problem, try them both. Try out your new ideas, even if they seem a little outlandish at first. These fresh, outside the box, perspectives can lead to huge breakthroughs.
* Telling yourself that you're creative is only the beginning; try to think creatively whenever possible.
3. Put your new ideas into action. Don't worry what other people will think. By trying out your creative ideas, even if you don't succeed at first, you'll learn something and give your creativity a chance to flourish.
* Don't be afraid to try new things.
4. Don't over-think things; just go ahead and do it! Rather than thinking of all the reasons NOT to do something, think positively and take a risk. If you have always wanted to try writing or painting, just get it on paper (or canvas, as the case may be) immediately.
* Let your creative impulses run wild.
5. Be inspired! Pay a visit to a museum, take in a play, try going somewhere you've never been or seeing something you've never seen.
* Inspiration sparks creativity.
6. Make time for your creative outlets. We're all busy these days. Be sure to schedule some time for your creative pursuits. Put yourself in front of your instrument, your computer, or whatever your medium may be for a few hours each week and let your creativity come out.
7. Enjoy yourself. Make your creative endeavor a joy, not a chore. This will ensure the continued flow of creative energies.
8. Play creative games. This is a fun way to foster creativity! Get together with friends and play charades or another game where success hinges on being expressive and coming up with creative ways to communicate.
9. Try a new creative medium. If you have chosen a creative medium, try mixing it up when you get into a rut. If you write, try playing music. If you're a dancer, try painting - you get the idea.
* Shake things up to get some new ideas and perspectives.
10. Take a break! If you're stuck for ideas, don't sit there in your workspace staring at the walls. Even the most creative people need to take some time off. This can allow a blocked well of creativity to flow again.
* Get outside for a bit to recharge your creative energies.
Remember to be patient when nurturing your creativity. This shouldn't be a stressful activity. Make a habit of enjoying these techniques every day and one day soon you just may discover that you're one of the most creative people out there!
How To Make A Cheap Guitar Sound Great
Most beginning guitar players start with a rather inexpensive instrument. They usually have a mass production clone of a Fender Stratocaster or a Gibson Les Paul. The most popular clones are made overseas by Gibson and Fender themselves through the Epiphone and Squier lines. These are built to the same specs as the American made models. They are decent instruments in their own right but they can be improved greatly with just a pickup replacement. As long as the neck is straight and the tuning pegs are fairly tight, this is often all you need to upgrade to a pro sound.
Iv'e modified several Mexican made Stratocasters and I'll take you through the process. The first thing you want to decide on is what kind of sound you're looking for. Replacement pickups are available with a lot of variety in sound output. I like to use Seymour Duncan pickups because they have proven to be of high quality and reliability. They also have a good selection and have a CD of sound samples you can listen to. Most dealers have the CD's and you can also listen to the samples online. Choose your replacement pickups and you're ready to upgrade.
You'll need several things for the job. A good stable workbench or table, with plenty of room to lay your tools out, makes things much easier. Here's a list of what you need: 1.screwdriver set, both flat head and philips 2.soldering iron 3.solder 4.new set of strings 5.wire cutters/strippers
The first thing you need to do is remove your guitar strings. I usually leave the low E-string on to keep a little tension on the neck. Next remove the pickguard cover. Make sure you save all the screws in a cup as they are small and get lost easily. After you remove the screws you should be able to lift up on it and slide it off under the E-string. You should now see your three pickups and the wiring thats attached to them.
The new pickups come with a wiring diagram that is color coded but take a good look at each pickup before you replace it in case something isn't quite right with the color code. It's important that you replace one pickup at a time so as not to mix up the bridge, middle and neck pickups.
Heat up your soldering iron. Remove the first pickup. I usually start with the neck pickup. Cut and strip the wires according to the instructions and solder the wires to the new ones. Repeat the process for the other two. Not too bad, huh?
When you replace the cover/pickguard, be careful not to overtighten the screws or they might get stripped. Now would be a good time to clean the guitar before you put the new strings on.
Replace and tune the strings and plug in. You'll be pleased with the results. I have several of these upgraded strats for the price of one expensive one and more versatilty with different pickup sounds. You can do the same thing with an Epiphone Les Paul to produce a sound that rivals the Gibson for about a third of the price. Now you can spend more money on all the cool effects gadgets. Have fun and keep practicing.
Iv'e modified several Mexican made Stratocasters and I'll take you through the process. The first thing you want to decide on is what kind of sound you're looking for. Replacement pickups are available with a lot of variety in sound output. I like to use Seymour Duncan pickups because they have proven to be of high quality and reliability. They also have a good selection and have a CD of sound samples you can listen to. Most dealers have the CD's and you can also listen to the samples online. Choose your replacement pickups and you're ready to upgrade.
You'll need several things for the job. A good stable workbench or table, with plenty of room to lay your tools out, makes things much easier. Here's a list of what you need: 1.screwdriver set, both flat head and philips 2.soldering iron 3.solder 4.new set of strings 5.wire cutters/strippers
The first thing you need to do is remove your guitar strings. I usually leave the low E-string on to keep a little tension on the neck. Next remove the pickguard cover. Make sure you save all the screws in a cup as they are small and get lost easily. After you remove the screws you should be able to lift up on it and slide it off under the E-string. You should now see your three pickups and the wiring thats attached to them.
The new pickups come with a wiring diagram that is color coded but take a good look at each pickup before you replace it in case something isn't quite right with the color code. It's important that you replace one pickup at a time so as not to mix up the bridge, middle and neck pickups.
Heat up your soldering iron. Remove the first pickup. I usually start with the neck pickup. Cut and strip the wires according to the instructions and solder the wires to the new ones. Repeat the process for the other two. Not too bad, huh?
When you replace the cover/pickguard, be careful not to overtighten the screws or they might get stripped. Now would be a good time to clean the guitar before you put the new strings on.
Replace and tune the strings and plug in. You'll be pleased with the results. I have several of these upgraded strats for the price of one expensive one and more versatilty with different pickup sounds. You can do the same thing with an Epiphone Les Paul to produce a sound that rivals the Gibson for about a third of the price. Now you can spend more money on all the cool effects gadgets. Have fun and keep practicing.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Most Popular Ringtones
Boring built-in ringtones and some irritating ones when heard are the cause why many mobile phone users liked to customize or personalized their ringing tones. These hottest songs of 2008 had been the popular pick of most mobile users for their trendy ringtones.
Most of the users like Ne-Yo that is why his songs Miss Independent and So Sick were ringing a lot of phones. Another most requested song to be a ringtone is Jason Mrazs Im Yours. The song Ride by Ace Hood feat. Trey Songz is a favorite of hip hop fans.
The song Mrs. Officer by Lil Wayne and Bobby Valentino had reached a high spot on the billboard charts same as with mobile phones. Another successful ringtone is the song The Business (Bridge) by Yung Berg featuring Casha. One more rap song by T.I., Swing Ya Rag truly belonged at the top downloaded ringtones.
Different songs from different genres that had just been out lately in the music scene were also now raging into mobile phones as hot tunes. For the R&B genre the song Spotlight by Jennifer Hudson has been the popular downloaded tune. The country song Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven by Kenny Chesney and was written by Jim Collins and Marty Dodson was for the country music lovers mobile phones. And of course, for the pop lovers a ringtone like Just Dance by Lady GaGa will surely make you want to dance while your phone is ringing.
These ringtones songs were just some of the most popular ones. On the other hand, just an advised for the mobile phone users before downloading a lot of these tones on their mobile phones, make sure the songs will match on your phones model because some of these ringtones files were only going to play on a specific mobile phone model since other phones might not support the file type these songs have.
More mobile phone ringtones can be found over the internet. Mobile phone users just need to type the keyword ringtones on search engines on different browsers. Some of these ringtones can be downloaded with a certain price but they can still look for tones that can be downloaded for free to have the hottest song play while their mobile phones were ringing.
Most of the users like Ne-Yo that is why his songs Miss Independent and So Sick were ringing a lot of phones. Another most requested song to be a ringtone is Jason Mrazs Im Yours. The song Ride by Ace Hood feat. Trey Songz is a favorite of hip hop fans.
The song Mrs. Officer by Lil Wayne and Bobby Valentino had reached a high spot on the billboard charts same as with mobile phones. Another successful ringtone is the song The Business (Bridge) by Yung Berg featuring Casha. One more rap song by T.I., Swing Ya Rag truly belonged at the top downloaded ringtones.
Different songs from different genres that had just been out lately in the music scene were also now raging into mobile phones as hot tunes. For the R&B genre the song Spotlight by Jennifer Hudson has been the popular downloaded tune. The country song Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven by Kenny Chesney and was written by Jim Collins and Marty Dodson was for the country music lovers mobile phones. And of course, for the pop lovers a ringtone like Just Dance by Lady GaGa will surely make you want to dance while your phone is ringing.
These ringtones songs were just some of the most popular ones. On the other hand, just an advised for the mobile phone users before downloading a lot of these tones on their mobile phones, make sure the songs will match on your phones model because some of these ringtones files were only going to play on a specific mobile phone model since other phones might not support the file type these songs have.
More mobile phone ringtones can be found over the internet. Mobile phone users just need to type the keyword ringtones on search engines on different browsers. Some of these ringtones can be downloaded with a certain price but they can still look for tones that can be downloaded for free to have the hottest song play while their mobile phones were ringing.
Peace On Earth, A Wonderful Wish, But No Way
When asked, "If you could wish for one thing only, what would that wish be?" almost everyone; from beauty pagent contestants, to politicians, to religious leaders, to children, to the average person on the street states, "Peace On Earth" or "An end to all wars". Those wishes, while exemplary, are meaningless. As long as humans exist there will never be peace on earth.
Throughout the history of humankind there has never been peace on earth. Cavemen fought other cavemen over territory, food and even women. Cain killed Abel over God's respect. Gabriel blew down the walls of Jericho. America fought the Revolutionary War for freedom and brother fought against brother in our Civil War for more freedom. There have always been wars and there will always be wars.
As long as humans can think, there will be wars. Wars over such concepts as freedom, honor, dignity, etc.. Wars over territory, greed, power, prejudice, etc.. War is a part of human nature. For example, every human being is prejudiced. If they don't like some race, nationality or religion, they don't like short or tall or fat or skinny or smart or not smart or loud or quiet people. Some people don't like children, some people don't like old people, some people don't like people with pets, or people that play their music too loud, or bad drivers, or people that believe in God or people that don't believe in God. What is right and proper to some people can be wrong or even enraging to other people.
Religion can not stop wars, in fact many wars are fought over religion (Note: I believe that religion is used as an excuse for war not the real reason for war.). Christians fought against Muslims during the Crusades, Many Muslims want death for all non believers. The Catholic Church killed heretics during the Inquisition. The Nazis killed millions of Jews and then started killing Catholics. The Russians under Stalin killed anyone even remotly religious. Protestants killed other Protestants for being the wrong type of Protestant. Muslims killed Muslims for being the wrong type of Muslim. Don't forget about Atheists (I believe that Atheism is also a religion, it is a religion of non belief.), Stalin was an Atheist and wanted to get rid of all religion. Most of China's leaders are Atheists and have jailed and killed huge numbers of religious people. History is rife with various types of religious battles.
The main reason for war, however, is the lust for power. The power to make others do and believe as you do and believe, the power to make other people render unto you what you believe is rightfully yours, the power to make other people treat you as you believe you should be treated, the power to gain what you want (ie: money, love, respect, etc.), the power to punish others for doing things that you don't believe they should do, the power to keep other from having things or thoughts that you don't have. In other words, the power to be, in some ways God, to make everyone else in your image with you as their ruler.
As long as people have the ability to think, there will be greed, envy, prejudice and anger. As long as those things exist, there will be wars. Most people believe, either religiously or secularly, in the rules set down in the Ten Commandments, but very few people can follow those rules all of the time because our ability to think causes us to want. Wanting causes us to break some or all of the rules. Humans are not perfect. If they were they would not be human.
Throughout the history of humankind there has never been peace on earth. Cavemen fought other cavemen over territory, food and even women. Cain killed Abel over God's respect. Gabriel blew down the walls of Jericho. America fought the Revolutionary War for freedom and brother fought against brother in our Civil War for more freedom. There have always been wars and there will always be wars.
As long as humans can think, there will be wars. Wars over such concepts as freedom, honor, dignity, etc.. Wars over territory, greed, power, prejudice, etc.. War is a part of human nature. For example, every human being is prejudiced. If they don't like some race, nationality or religion, they don't like short or tall or fat or skinny or smart or not smart or loud or quiet people. Some people don't like children, some people don't like old people, some people don't like people with pets, or people that play their music too loud, or bad drivers, or people that believe in God or people that don't believe in God. What is right and proper to some people can be wrong or even enraging to other people.
Religion can not stop wars, in fact many wars are fought over religion (Note: I believe that religion is used as an excuse for war not the real reason for war.). Christians fought against Muslims during the Crusades, Many Muslims want death for all non believers. The Catholic Church killed heretics during the Inquisition. The Nazis killed millions of Jews and then started killing Catholics. The Russians under Stalin killed anyone even remotly religious. Protestants killed other Protestants for being the wrong type of Protestant. Muslims killed Muslims for being the wrong type of Muslim. Don't forget about Atheists (I believe that Atheism is also a religion, it is a religion of non belief.), Stalin was an Atheist and wanted to get rid of all religion. Most of China's leaders are Atheists and have jailed and killed huge numbers of religious people. History is rife with various types of religious battles.
The main reason for war, however, is the lust for power. The power to make others do and believe as you do and believe, the power to make other people render unto you what you believe is rightfully yours, the power to make other people treat you as you believe you should be treated, the power to gain what you want (ie: money, love, respect, etc.), the power to punish others for doing things that you don't believe they should do, the power to keep other from having things or thoughts that you don't have. In other words, the power to be, in some ways God, to make everyone else in your image with you as their ruler.
As long as people have the ability to think, there will be greed, envy, prejudice and anger. As long as those things exist, there will be wars. Most people believe, either religiously or secularly, in the rules set down in the Ten Commandments, but very few people can follow those rules all of the time because our ability to think causes us to want. Wanting causes us to break some or all of the rules. Humans are not perfect. If they were they would not be human.
The Power Of Your Own Pleasure
“The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience” - Emily Dickinson
How much pleasure have you had today? Yes, be honest, unless you are one of those rare people experiencing a lot of pleasure, you probably have not gotten your pleasure meter far off the ground today. The Webster Dictionary definition of Pleasure is: a pleased feeling; enjoyment; delight; satisfaction. You know the feeling---the warm, open feeling of delight throughout your whole body---difficult in some ways to articulate---but you know what I’m talking about--Pleasure—it is fun to say and almost evokes the feeling just by saying it. Try it—say it out loud--Pleasure. What a great word—fun to say and even more fun to fully experience!
When I ask my clients “What gives you pleasure?” it can take awhile for them to generate answers to the question. There can be reactions like “I’m not supposed to focus on my pleasure, which is selfish” or “It’s been so long since I have felt pleasure that I don’t know what would give me pleasure.” Another reaction is that they are able to list the things that give them pleasure but when I ask them the last time they did these things---they sheepishly respond that it hasn’t been for a long time. Women in particular have a hard time staying focused and attending to their own pleasure because they are socialized to channel their energy to support other’s pleasure, not their own. A few years ago when I was on vacation with my family at a cottage in Upper Michigan my Aunt shared that she would love to go see the sunset on Lake Superior, a fifteen minute drive from where we were. I was so excited because it was rare that she verbalized something that would give her pleasure---as she was so focused on what would give her husband and children pleasure, but not herself. We were preparing to leave when a family friend from a neighboring cottage came by and asked my Aunt to prepare a fish that he just caught--without a blink of an eye, she said yes, and her trip to watch the sunset vanished into thin air. Again, someone else’s pleasure was more important than her own. I was both angry and sad how quickly she let go of her own pleasure.
Think of the ripple effect of her denial of her own Pleasure. To look at this let’s use the Inner Bonding framework that we have a child within that we are constantly communicating with. Imagine the inner communication that my Aunt had within herself---she told the child that they were going to watch the sunset--and just like any child that part of her started to get excited, anticipating the fun and pleasure of seeing the sunset---getting more excited as the time to go came closer (you know this is exactly what kids do) and now imagine that she chooses not to go and prepare the fish for her friend instead. How would that child inside of her feel? Devastated, angry, sad, unimportant. There would definitely be an impact on the inner level—a feeling of despair, irritability, her energy level may have dropped, she may have snapped at others later in the evening. There are negative consequences both for her and for the others around her—these kind of denials do not go without profound consequences. If this kind of denial of one’s own pleasure continues it can lead to feelings of depression, anger, deadening of one’s Spirit and even illness.
Let’s look at the ripple effect of what would have happened if she would have followed her Pleasure and went and watched the Sunset. She would have had the wonderful feeling of Delight and pleasure in her body as she watched the sunset. Her energy would be uplifted, open and she would feel a deeper connection with herself and those around her. She would feel relaxed ---any tension that was held in her body would melt away---her breathing would open and deepen. In this relaxed, open, uplifted state she may get creative insights into how to address some of the issues she has recently been facing---allowing her to resolve these with ease and grace rather than struggle. She would feel inner trust from listening to herself--- that child part of her that was excited about going to see the Sunset---this part of her would feel valued and important---thus she would feel her own value and importance. The child part of her---which is the part of her most connected to what would give her pleasure --would feel safe to bring up more ideas of future pleasurable activities---pleasure would open and expand in her life---rather than constrict and lessen---which would be the consequence of not following through on the sunset pleasure.
Our state of mind affects those around us--even if we don’t say a word-- people close to us can tell if we are in a good or bad mood and generally are affected by how we are feeling. Because of this, my Aunt’s good feelings from following her pleasure would have had a ripple affect of spreading good feelings to those around her. Her uplifted mood would also positively affect the way she interacted with her family---she would be more open and loving with them. So you can see all the benefits of following your own pleasure---your life opens and expands in positive ways.
The following are 6 guidelines for experiencing the power of your own pleasure :
1. Take Your Own Pleasure Seriously- You need to be the champion of your own pleasure---following through and honoring the things that bring you pleasure—not bowing to external pressures that sidetrack you. Listen to that voice within you when it comes up with a great idea for something that would give you pleasure---the more you listen, the more ideas will come. Open the pleasure floodgates!
2. Make Your Own Pleasure a Priority- One of my favorite ways to do this is to structure your day around your pleasure. Putting pleasure at the top of your list rather than the bottom can have a tremendous impact on your day to day life. Pleasure feeds your Spirit and energizes your energy system---giving you more energy to do all that you want to do. When I plan my day I make sure that I have something pleasurable planned right away in the morning---lately it has been a bike ride---this infuses the start of my day with positive energy from the pleasure. Than I make sure that I have something pleasurable to do over lunch—like meeting one of my favorite friends or taking a walk outside. In the evening I make sure I have something pleasurable to do ---watching the sunset or watching a fun, light- hearted sitcom. Planning your day with Pleasure as your number one priority will allow you to do the other items on your to do list with ease and more energy. So tomorrow write at the very top of your to do list “PLEASURE.”
3. Take Full Responsibility for your Own Pleasure- Do you take responsibility for your own pleasure or do you hand that over to other people---your mate, your friends, your kids? This is a common thing that people do and often they are unconscious of this. A signal you may be doing this is if you find yourself frequently let down and disappointed with people. This disappointment is coming from an expectation you are having of them to act a certain way in order for you to feel good---“they must say this, do this etc---and I will feel good.” Imagine making your pleasure independent of what others around you are doing and saying—that is when things get really exciting and fun! An example of this is around Holidays— if you have expectations of how your family should act in order for you to have a good time---you will probably be disappointed because you have no control over what kind of mood each family member will be in , if they are open to having fun and being loving or closed and stuck in negativity. If you make your pleasure independent of what will be happening with others you will be assured to have a good time.
4. Involve All of Your Senses to Experience Pleasure- An essential part of feeling pleasure is to connect to the sensations of your body. If you are stuck in your head worrying, analyzing, thinking of the past or the future you will not be present in your body to feel pleasure---you in fact will probably be feeling tension and anxiety. To feel pleasure you need to open up to the experience of the moment---how does the air feel on your skin, what are you smelling, what are you seeing around you. You may have an opportunity for pleasure that you are missing by being lost in the thoughts of your mind. Once you are connected to the sensations of your body you will have a better idea of what needs to happen to experience pleasure. For example you might notice in your everyday surroundings there is a lack of visual beauty---so than you can do things to change this to experience the pleasure of visual beauty. If you are at home now, look around you---does what you see give you pleasure---are the colors and items plifting and beautiful? If not explore what colors and images you would like to have in your environment. What sounds do you hear during the day? Do you hear laughter, music you love, singing, birds? Pay attention to what gives you auditory pleasure and make sure your day is infused with these sounds. What physical sensations give you pleasure? I love the feel of my dog’s soft fur on my fingertips---I close my eyes and take in how enjoyable the sensation feels to me. Does the physical sensation of different movement feel good to you---biking, dancing, walking, skipping? What kind of touch feels good to you? Do you like someone holding your hand, rubbing your back or your feet, stroking your hair? Tune into what physical sensations you really love and make sure you take action to bring these sensations more into your life.
5. Take Ordinary Tasks and Infuse them with Pleasure- Think of the tasks that you need to do in your life and see what you can do to bring more pleasure to these experiences. What could you do to bring pleasure to cleaning your house?---playing your favorite music, taking dancing breaks, goofing around with whoever is cleaning with you or goofing around with yourself! I do this when I am writing articles—I play my favorite music loud, I drink my favorite iced tea out of a colorful tumbler, I have loving and encouraging notes to myself posted all over my computer screen, I have beautiful images on cards that I can see in front of me, I burn my favorite incense and every 10 minutes I take a dancing break! Consequently writing is very pleasurable and fun for me. Years ago when I first started writing I didn’t do these things and writing was hard and a struggle for me. It was after I made pleasure a priority in the writing process that writing became very fun, easy and something I look forward to. Look at what activities you must do and see what kind of creative ways you can bring in more pleasure.
6. Push Your Pleasure Limits- You may have received negative messages from the culture and your family about pleasure, so initially it may feel awkward and uncomfortable to so openly focus on your own pleasure. Treat these feelings as normal feelings of breaking free of old limiting patterns that no longer serve you in your life. Acknowledge the uncomfortable feelings but don’t let them stop you from moving ahead with following your pleasure. The idea is to expand your capacity to feel pleasure and feel it more often in your life. Take risks and experiment with what would give you pleasure---Wonder to yourself--- “What would give me pleasure today or in this moment?” ---listen to what comes to mind and than try it. Challenge yourself to feel more pleasure throughout the day---don’t feel some pleasure and say to yourself— “That’s enough I’ve had my pleasure for the day”----no, no don’t do that---go in the other direction and say to yourself “That felt really great---I want to feel more of that today!” I really feel that there is always room to stretch and grow in the good feelings that we can experience---so don’t cut yourself off from the amazing possibilities! Your feeling great will be an inspiration to others and allow them to see how they can move into those wonderful feelings as well. Commit to being a Pleasure Pioneer exploring new territories of pleasure, paving the way for others to joyously follow!
How much pleasure have you had today? Yes, be honest, unless you are one of those rare people experiencing a lot of pleasure, you probably have not gotten your pleasure meter far off the ground today. The Webster Dictionary definition of Pleasure is: a pleased feeling; enjoyment; delight; satisfaction. You know the feeling---the warm, open feeling of delight throughout your whole body---difficult in some ways to articulate---but you know what I’m talking about--Pleasure—it is fun to say and almost evokes the feeling just by saying it. Try it—say it out loud--Pleasure. What a great word—fun to say and even more fun to fully experience!
When I ask my clients “What gives you pleasure?” it can take awhile for them to generate answers to the question. There can be reactions like “I’m not supposed to focus on my pleasure, which is selfish” or “It’s been so long since I have felt pleasure that I don’t know what would give me pleasure.” Another reaction is that they are able to list the things that give them pleasure but when I ask them the last time they did these things---they sheepishly respond that it hasn’t been for a long time. Women in particular have a hard time staying focused and attending to their own pleasure because they are socialized to channel their energy to support other’s pleasure, not their own. A few years ago when I was on vacation with my family at a cottage in Upper Michigan my Aunt shared that she would love to go see the sunset on Lake Superior, a fifteen minute drive from where we were. I was so excited because it was rare that she verbalized something that would give her pleasure---as she was so focused on what would give her husband and children pleasure, but not herself. We were preparing to leave when a family friend from a neighboring cottage came by and asked my Aunt to prepare a fish that he just caught--without a blink of an eye, she said yes, and her trip to watch the sunset vanished into thin air. Again, someone else’s pleasure was more important than her own. I was both angry and sad how quickly she let go of her own pleasure.
Think of the ripple effect of her denial of her own Pleasure. To look at this let’s use the Inner Bonding framework that we have a child within that we are constantly communicating with. Imagine the inner communication that my Aunt had within herself---she told the child that they were going to watch the sunset--and just like any child that part of her started to get excited, anticipating the fun and pleasure of seeing the sunset---getting more excited as the time to go came closer (you know this is exactly what kids do) and now imagine that she chooses not to go and prepare the fish for her friend instead. How would that child inside of her feel? Devastated, angry, sad, unimportant. There would definitely be an impact on the inner level—a feeling of despair, irritability, her energy level may have dropped, she may have snapped at others later in the evening. There are negative consequences both for her and for the others around her—these kind of denials do not go without profound consequences. If this kind of denial of one’s own pleasure continues it can lead to feelings of depression, anger, deadening of one’s Spirit and even illness.
Let’s look at the ripple effect of what would have happened if she would have followed her Pleasure and went and watched the Sunset. She would have had the wonderful feeling of Delight and pleasure in her body as she watched the sunset. Her energy would be uplifted, open and she would feel a deeper connection with herself and those around her. She would feel relaxed ---any tension that was held in her body would melt away---her breathing would open and deepen. In this relaxed, open, uplifted state she may get creative insights into how to address some of the issues she has recently been facing---allowing her to resolve these with ease and grace rather than struggle. She would feel inner trust from listening to herself--- that child part of her that was excited about going to see the Sunset---this part of her would feel valued and important---thus she would feel her own value and importance. The child part of her---which is the part of her most connected to what would give her pleasure --would feel safe to bring up more ideas of future pleasurable activities---pleasure would open and expand in her life---rather than constrict and lessen---which would be the consequence of not following through on the sunset pleasure.
Our state of mind affects those around us--even if we don’t say a word-- people close to us can tell if we are in a good or bad mood and generally are affected by how we are feeling. Because of this, my Aunt’s good feelings from following her pleasure would have had a ripple affect of spreading good feelings to those around her. Her uplifted mood would also positively affect the way she interacted with her family---she would be more open and loving with them. So you can see all the benefits of following your own pleasure---your life opens and expands in positive ways.
The following are 6 guidelines for experiencing the power of your own pleasure :
1. Take Your Own Pleasure Seriously- You need to be the champion of your own pleasure---following through and honoring the things that bring you pleasure—not bowing to external pressures that sidetrack you. Listen to that voice within you when it comes up with a great idea for something that would give you pleasure---the more you listen, the more ideas will come. Open the pleasure floodgates!
2. Make Your Own Pleasure a Priority- One of my favorite ways to do this is to structure your day around your pleasure. Putting pleasure at the top of your list rather than the bottom can have a tremendous impact on your day to day life. Pleasure feeds your Spirit and energizes your energy system---giving you more energy to do all that you want to do. When I plan my day I make sure that I have something pleasurable planned right away in the morning---lately it has been a bike ride---this infuses the start of my day with positive energy from the pleasure. Than I make sure that I have something pleasurable to do over lunch—like meeting one of my favorite friends or taking a walk outside. In the evening I make sure I have something pleasurable to do ---watching the sunset or watching a fun, light- hearted sitcom. Planning your day with Pleasure as your number one priority will allow you to do the other items on your to do list with ease and more energy. So tomorrow write at the very top of your to do list “PLEASURE.”
3. Take Full Responsibility for your Own Pleasure- Do you take responsibility for your own pleasure or do you hand that over to other people---your mate, your friends, your kids? This is a common thing that people do and often they are unconscious of this. A signal you may be doing this is if you find yourself frequently let down and disappointed with people. This disappointment is coming from an expectation you are having of them to act a certain way in order for you to feel good---“they must say this, do this etc---and I will feel good.” Imagine making your pleasure independent of what others around you are doing and saying—that is when things get really exciting and fun! An example of this is around Holidays— if you have expectations of how your family should act in order for you to have a good time---you will probably be disappointed because you have no control over what kind of mood each family member will be in , if they are open to having fun and being loving or closed and stuck in negativity. If you make your pleasure independent of what will be happening with others you will be assured to have a good time.
4. Involve All of Your Senses to Experience Pleasure- An essential part of feeling pleasure is to connect to the sensations of your body. If you are stuck in your head worrying, analyzing, thinking of the past or the future you will not be present in your body to feel pleasure---you in fact will probably be feeling tension and anxiety. To feel pleasure you need to open up to the experience of the moment---how does the air feel on your skin, what are you smelling, what are you seeing around you. You may have an opportunity for pleasure that you are missing by being lost in the thoughts of your mind. Once you are connected to the sensations of your body you will have a better idea of what needs to happen to experience pleasure. For example you might notice in your everyday surroundings there is a lack of visual beauty---so than you can do things to change this to experience the pleasure of visual beauty. If you are at home now, look around you---does what you see give you pleasure---are the colors and items plifting and beautiful? If not explore what colors and images you would like to have in your environment. What sounds do you hear during the day? Do you hear laughter, music you love, singing, birds? Pay attention to what gives you auditory pleasure and make sure your day is infused with these sounds. What physical sensations give you pleasure? I love the feel of my dog’s soft fur on my fingertips---I close my eyes and take in how enjoyable the sensation feels to me. Does the physical sensation of different movement feel good to you---biking, dancing, walking, skipping? What kind of touch feels good to you? Do you like someone holding your hand, rubbing your back or your feet, stroking your hair? Tune into what physical sensations you really love and make sure you take action to bring these sensations more into your life.
5. Take Ordinary Tasks and Infuse them with Pleasure- Think of the tasks that you need to do in your life and see what you can do to bring more pleasure to these experiences. What could you do to bring pleasure to cleaning your house?---playing your favorite music, taking dancing breaks, goofing around with whoever is cleaning with you or goofing around with yourself! I do this when I am writing articles—I play my favorite music loud, I drink my favorite iced tea out of a colorful tumbler, I have loving and encouraging notes to myself posted all over my computer screen, I have beautiful images on cards that I can see in front of me, I burn my favorite incense and every 10 minutes I take a dancing break! Consequently writing is very pleasurable and fun for me. Years ago when I first started writing I didn’t do these things and writing was hard and a struggle for me. It was after I made pleasure a priority in the writing process that writing became very fun, easy and something I look forward to. Look at what activities you must do and see what kind of creative ways you can bring in more pleasure.
6. Push Your Pleasure Limits- You may have received negative messages from the culture and your family about pleasure, so initially it may feel awkward and uncomfortable to so openly focus on your own pleasure. Treat these feelings as normal feelings of breaking free of old limiting patterns that no longer serve you in your life. Acknowledge the uncomfortable feelings but don’t let them stop you from moving ahead with following your pleasure. The idea is to expand your capacity to feel pleasure and feel it more often in your life. Take risks and experiment with what would give you pleasure---Wonder to yourself--- “What would give me pleasure today or in this moment?” ---listen to what comes to mind and than try it. Challenge yourself to feel more pleasure throughout the day---don’t feel some pleasure and say to yourself— “That’s enough I’ve had my pleasure for the day”----no, no don’t do that---go in the other direction and say to yourself “That felt really great---I want to feel more of that today!” I really feel that there is always room to stretch and grow in the good feelings that we can experience---so don’t cut yourself off from the amazing possibilities! Your feeling great will be an inspiration to others and allow them to see how they can move into those wonderful feelings as well. Commit to being a Pleasure Pioneer exploring new territories of pleasure, paving the way for others to joyously follow!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Adventure On Mont Blanc
The Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco in Italian) is a granite mountain, located in a valley with many glaciers. This is the peak of the Alps in the Mont Blanc massif, which is shared between the Aosta Valley (Val Veny and Val Ferret), Italy, and Haute-Savoie (Chamonix-Mont-Blanc), France. The most famous nearby places are Courmayeur, Italy and Chamonix-Mont-Blanc and Saint-Gervais-les-Bains in France.
It has an official height of 4810.45 meters (according to the latest official measurement in September 2009) and is the highest point in Italy and France but not the highest in Europe, since according to official geography is with 5642 m Mount Elbrus, which is part of the chain of the Caucasus. The situation of the summit is shared between Italy and France, but French and Swiss cartographers placed the top in France, but after studying many different maps , and with the help of the Cartographic Institute dell'Esercito, Antonio Napolitano, the Italian head of a joint committee, claimed the summit as an Italian.
Many glaciers are all around: in the southern glaciers Freney, La Brenva of Miage, Mont Blanc and Brouillard, and north, and the Bossons glacier Mer de Glace. In 1957, construction began on the Mont Blanc tunnel (completed in 1965) which is 11.6 km long and is a major trans-Alpine transport routes, and that links Italy and France. The solid Mont Blanc is a popular destination for mountaineering, hiking, skiing and snowboarding.
During the eighteenth century was usually called "Mountain damn" in fact a mountain massif still retains this name, Mount Cursed "because, according to legend, in ancient times was greener and the beasts were there . At the beginning of the century, there were several processions among the villagers, because the "Mer de Glace" is dangerously close to Chamonix.
Another legend tells of an enchanted kingdom existed at the summit, where she was the queen of the fairies, the "white goddess" who lived in green meadows, and wove the fate of the inhabitants of the valley. In ancient beliefs, these divine entities should be respected and revered as the summit issued a type of influence, a supernatural force that guided the men without their knowledge and whose influence could be good or bad, as appropriate. With Christianity, these divinities were considered hostile invisible beings, similar to demons.
The English traveler William Windham (1717-1761), who had conducted expeditions in Egypt and the East, held in the summer of 1741 an expedition of discovery into the valley of Chamonix, where he rose to Montenvert. When he arrived in Chamonix Mont-Blanc, marveled at the appearance of the valley and the cliffs, which he could scare the strongest souls. He also said that at night, on glaciers, were made parties witches who danced to the music. With the rationalism of the late eighteenth century and the triumph of materialism of the nineteenth century was dominated by the mountain more accurate and physical skills.
It has an official height of 4810.45 meters (according to the latest official measurement in September 2009) and is the highest point in Italy and France but not the highest in Europe, since according to official geography is with 5642 m Mount Elbrus, which is part of the chain of the Caucasus. The situation of the summit is shared between Italy and France, but French and Swiss cartographers placed the top in France, but after studying many different maps , and with the help of the Cartographic Institute dell'Esercito, Antonio Napolitano, the Italian head of a joint committee, claimed the summit as an Italian.
Many glaciers are all around: in the southern glaciers Freney, La Brenva of Miage, Mont Blanc and Brouillard, and north, and the Bossons glacier Mer de Glace. In 1957, construction began on the Mont Blanc tunnel (completed in 1965) which is 11.6 km long and is a major trans-Alpine transport routes, and that links Italy and France. The solid Mont Blanc is a popular destination for mountaineering, hiking, skiing and snowboarding.
During the eighteenth century was usually called "Mountain damn" in fact a mountain massif still retains this name, Mount Cursed "because, according to legend, in ancient times was greener and the beasts were there . At the beginning of the century, there were several processions among the villagers, because the "Mer de Glace" is dangerously close to Chamonix.
Another legend tells of an enchanted kingdom existed at the summit, where she was the queen of the fairies, the "white goddess" who lived in green meadows, and wove the fate of the inhabitants of the valley. In ancient beliefs, these divine entities should be respected and revered as the summit issued a type of influence, a supernatural force that guided the men without their knowledge and whose influence could be good or bad, as appropriate. With Christianity, these divinities were considered hostile invisible beings, similar to demons.
The English traveler William Windham (1717-1761), who had conducted expeditions in Egypt and the East, held in the summer of 1741 an expedition of discovery into the valley of Chamonix, where he rose to Montenvert. When he arrived in Chamonix Mont-Blanc, marveled at the appearance of the valley and the cliffs, which he could scare the strongest souls. He also said that at night, on glaciers, were made parties witches who danced to the music. With the rationalism of the late eighteenth century and the triumph of materialism of the nineteenth century was dominated by the mountain more accurate and physical skills.
Finding Your Creative Spark
Don't you love it when your creativity manifests itself? Creativity brings us benefits that go far beyond artistic expression. Being a creative person can help you to be a better (and higher paid) employee, a better problem solver and an all around more effective person in anything you choose to do.
Even if you don't think of yourself as an especially creative person, you'll be glad to know that it's there within you just waiting for you to use it! Creativity can be expressed in many different ways. Plus, there are many techniques you can use to develop and nurture your natural creativity.
How to Learn Creativity
Like many people, you may think that you're either creative or you're not. What a myth! If you long to be more creative, then go for it!
Here are ten tips you can use to become a new, more creative you:
1. Think of yourself as creative. We all have the spark of creativity inside us; it's just a matter of fanning that flame to keep it alive, as well as knowing where your particular brand of creativity is best applied.(
* The first step is to know that you're creative. Think positively about this and work to see your creative side whenever possible.(
2. Think creatively. If there are two solutions to a problem, try them both. Try out your new ideas, even if they seem a little outlandish at first. These fresh, outside the box, perspectives can lead to huge breakthroughs.(
* Telling yourself that you're creative is only the beginning; try to think creatively whenever possible.(
3. Put your new ideas into action. Don't worry what other people will think. By trying out your creative ideas, even if you don't succeed at first, you'll learn something and give your creativity a chance to flourish.(
* Don't be afraid to try new things.(
4. Don't over-think things; just go ahead and do it! Rather than thinking of all the reasons NOT to do something, think positively and take a risk. If you have always wanted to try writing or painting, just get it on paper (or canvas, as the case may be) immediately.(
* Let your creative impulses run wild.(
5. Be inspired! Pay a visit to a museum, take in a play, try going somewhere you've never been or seeing something you've never seen.(
* Inspiration sparks creativity.(
6. Make time for your creative outlets. We're all busy these days. Be sure to schedule some time for your creative pursuits. Put yourself in front of your instrument, your computer, or whatever your medium may be for a few hours each week and let your creativity come out.(
7. Enjoy yourself. Make your creative endeavor a joy, not a chore. This will ensure the continued flow of creative energies.(
8. Play creative games. This is a fun way to foster creativity! Get together with friends and play charades or another game where success hinges on being expressive and coming up with creative ways to communicate.(
9. Try a new creative medium. If you have chosen a creative medium, try mixing it up when you get into a rut. If you write, try playing music. If you're a dancer, try painting – you get the idea.(
* Shake things up to get some new ideas and perspectives.(
10. Take a break! If you're stuck for ideas, don't sit there in your workspace staring at the walls. Even the most creative people need to take some time off. This can allow a blocked well of creativity to flow again.(
* Get outside for a bit to recharge your creative energies.(
Remember to be patient when nurturing your creativity. This shouldn't be a stressful activity. Make a habit of enjoying these techniques every day and one day soon you just may discover that you're one of the most creative people out there!
Even if you don't think of yourself as an especially creative person, you'll be glad to know that it's there within you just waiting for you to use it! Creativity can be expressed in many different ways. Plus, there are many techniques you can use to develop and nurture your natural creativity.
How to Learn Creativity
Like many people, you may think that you're either creative or you're not. What a myth! If you long to be more creative, then go for it!
Here are ten tips you can use to become a new, more creative you:
1. Think of yourself as creative. We all have the spark of creativity inside us; it's just a matter of fanning that flame to keep it alive, as well as knowing where your particular brand of creativity is best applied.(
* The first step is to know that you're creative. Think positively about this and work to see your creative side whenever possible.(
2. Think creatively. If there are two solutions to a problem, try them both. Try out your new ideas, even if they seem a little outlandish at first. These fresh, outside the box, perspectives can lead to huge breakthroughs.(
* Telling yourself that you're creative is only the beginning; try to think creatively whenever possible.(
3. Put your new ideas into action. Don't worry what other people will think. By trying out your creative ideas, even if you don't succeed at first, you'll learn something and give your creativity a chance to flourish.(
* Don't be afraid to try new things.(
4. Don't over-think things; just go ahead and do it! Rather than thinking of all the reasons NOT to do something, think positively and take a risk. If you have always wanted to try writing or painting, just get it on paper (or canvas, as the case may be) immediately.(
* Let your creative impulses run wild.(
5. Be inspired! Pay a visit to a museum, take in a play, try going somewhere you've never been or seeing something you've never seen.(
* Inspiration sparks creativity.(
6. Make time for your creative outlets. We're all busy these days. Be sure to schedule some time for your creative pursuits. Put yourself in front of your instrument, your computer, or whatever your medium may be for a few hours each week and let your creativity come out.(
7. Enjoy yourself. Make your creative endeavor a joy, not a chore. This will ensure the continued flow of creative energies.(
8. Play creative games. This is a fun way to foster creativity! Get together with friends and play charades or another game where success hinges on being expressive and coming up with creative ways to communicate.(
9. Try a new creative medium. If you have chosen a creative medium, try mixing it up when you get into a rut. If you write, try playing music. If you're a dancer, try painting – you get the idea.(
* Shake things up to get some new ideas and perspectives.(
10. Take a break! If you're stuck for ideas, don't sit there in your workspace staring at the walls. Even the most creative people need to take some time off. This can allow a blocked well of creativity to flow again.(
* Get outside for a bit to recharge your creative energies.(
Remember to be patient when nurturing your creativity. This shouldn't be a stressful activity. Make a habit of enjoying these techniques every day and one day soon you just may discover that you're one of the most creative people out there!
The Power Of The Mind: Reduce Your Fear Of Public Speaking
An acquaintance told me a story recently about the public speaking experience that paralyzed her mentally for five years.
As the valedictorian of her high school class, she had prepared a speech called "The Power of the Mind." She was not anxious about the speech, as she was an experienced performer and speaker. She began her speech confidently, with a strong opening.
A short way into the speech, she found herself wondering, "what if I fainted?" It made no sense, since she was not afraid of public speaking, but she started to question whether she would be able to finish the speech. As this thought took hold, she started to see spots in front of her eyes. She began to feel dizzy. She grasped the lectern with all her strength to keep from collapsing.
Finally, she got a grip on herself, took some deep breaths, and was able to finish the speech. She hadn't delivered it the way she had hoped, but was able to do it without falling over.
For the next five years, every time she had to give a presentation, she would panic, and this fear - that was literally created out of her own mind - took over.
Most of our fears and anxieties about public speaking are based on thoughts that have very little to no basis in reality. Sometimes, a person has actually had real-life negative experiences that trigger those fears. But it's just as likely that a person who dreads public speaking has never had a bad public speaking experience.
I had a similar experience, in that I created fear and anxiety in my mind, but it was not about public speaking. Here's another example of this amazing power our minds have to create - and control - fear.
In 1990, I was hit head-on by a car while driving my scooter. I wasn't wearing a helmet; my head and the car's front end met in the middle of a busy intersection. I was lucky that nothing was broken and that I didn't suffer a more severe head injury. Recovery was slow, and soon after the accident I started having panic attacks.
I couldn't sit in a crowded restaurant. I couldn't tolerate the middle seat at the movie theater. Elevators made me anxious, and my biggest fear was sitting inside an airplane for ten hours, unable to get out. With a trip to Europe already planned, this was going to happen, whether I liked it or not.
I was referred to a therapist who specialized in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. She taught me breathing, visualization and relaxation techniques. I started to find myself reversing the panic attacks. If I felt one coming on, I could close my eyes, visualize a calming scene, breathe deeply, and conquer the anxiety. It was a powerful tool.
However, I realized that I could also CREATE a panic attack, just by thinking of the trigger. So now, I could sit in the middle seat at the movie theater, but I would start worrying, "what if I have a panic attack?" By letting the idea get comfortable in my mind, I could create the panic attack out of thin air. Now I had the tools to combat the attack, and I also had the tools to create one from scratch.
To this day, I am more comfortable in a aisle seat. I know that I can handle a claustrophobic trigger, but I still avoid putting myself there, knowing what my brain is capable of. At the same time, when I don't have a choice, I know my brain can handle that, too. Recently, I attended a Cirque du Soleil traveling performance. Anyone who's been to one of these shows knows how tightly packed the audience is. The big top is crowded, dark, hot, and literally defines claustrophobia! I sat through the performance - in a middle seat! - and had a great time, not once feeling the dread (or allowing it to) take over.
If our mind is powerful enough to create fear from "nothing," it's also powerful enough to reframe our thoughts to propel us forward in a positive way. There have been many books written about the power of positive thinking - the most well-known of these is Norman Vincent Peale's, first published over 50 years ago. Recent medical research shows, for example, that a positive expectation of a medication has real measurable physical effects (not just the psychological "placebo effect") on our health.
How does this apply to you as a public speaker? You can control the amount of fear and anxiety you experience around public speaking. You have the power to turn negative and fearful thoughts into positive ones. How do you do it?
1. The first step is being aware of your negative thoughts. Many of these thoughts are subconscious, but becoming aware of them and bringing them forward to your conscious mind is an important step. Once you are aware of these thoughts, you are then able to replace them with positive thoughts. You might say the following to yourself, "I'm an excellent speaker. People want to hear what I have to say. I'm going to have a great time. I'm excited about sharing my expertise." You choose the words that work for you; the important thing is to say them to yourself. This is the first step toward believing your positive thoughts.
2. The next step is visualizing yourself being successful at public speaking. Using your imagination, close your eyes and see yourself in the venue, speaking to an attentive audience. They are smiling and nodding. They are fascinated by what you have to say! Visualize yourself standing confidently, smiling and delivering your presentation clearly, concisely and with passion and enthusiasm. Imagine the audience applauding at the end (why not have a standing ovation while you're at it?). Imagine people seeking you out afterward, expressing gratitude and appreciation for what you've just taught them.
3. Finally, you will want to prepare physically for your presentation. On your way to the venue, warm up your voice by singing along to your favorite music. Breathe deeply. Once you get there, stretch and massage your back, neck, shoulders, chest, jaw and face. Continue deep breathing to bring oxygen to your brain and muscles, improve blood flow, and reduce tension that can make your voice weak or quivery.
If you have severe and paralyzing fear, it might help to see a therapist to get started, but most people who fear public speaking are not paralyzed or phobic. These simple tools may be all you need to start turning around your perceptions. It won't happen overnight, but if you commit to changing your negative thought patterns, you have the power to make it so.
After five years, my acquaintance finally took control of her public speaking fears, and so can you!
As the valedictorian of her high school class, she had prepared a speech called "The Power of the Mind." She was not anxious about the speech, as she was an experienced performer and speaker. She began her speech confidently, with a strong opening.
A short way into the speech, she found herself wondering, "what if I fainted?" It made no sense, since she was not afraid of public speaking, but she started to question whether she would be able to finish the speech. As this thought took hold, she started to see spots in front of her eyes. She began to feel dizzy. She grasped the lectern with all her strength to keep from collapsing.
Finally, she got a grip on herself, took some deep breaths, and was able to finish the speech. She hadn't delivered it the way she had hoped, but was able to do it without falling over.
For the next five years, every time she had to give a presentation, she would panic, and this fear - that was literally created out of her own mind - took over.
Most of our fears and anxieties about public speaking are based on thoughts that have very little to no basis in reality. Sometimes, a person has actually had real-life negative experiences that trigger those fears. But it's just as likely that a person who dreads public speaking has never had a bad public speaking experience.
I had a similar experience, in that I created fear and anxiety in my mind, but it was not about public speaking. Here's another example of this amazing power our minds have to create - and control - fear.
In 1990, I was hit head-on by a car while driving my scooter. I wasn't wearing a helmet; my head and the car's front end met in the middle of a busy intersection. I was lucky that nothing was broken and that I didn't suffer a more severe head injury. Recovery was slow, and soon after the accident I started having panic attacks.
I couldn't sit in a crowded restaurant. I couldn't tolerate the middle seat at the movie theater. Elevators made me anxious, and my biggest fear was sitting inside an airplane for ten hours, unable to get out. With a trip to Europe already planned, this was going to happen, whether I liked it or not.
I was referred to a therapist who specialized in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. She taught me breathing, visualization and relaxation techniques. I started to find myself reversing the panic attacks. If I felt one coming on, I could close my eyes, visualize a calming scene, breathe deeply, and conquer the anxiety. It was a powerful tool.
However, I realized that I could also CREATE a panic attack, just by thinking of the trigger. So now, I could sit in the middle seat at the movie theater, but I would start worrying, "what if I have a panic attack?" By letting the idea get comfortable in my mind, I could create the panic attack out of thin air. Now I had the tools to combat the attack, and I also had the tools to create one from scratch.
To this day, I am more comfortable in a aisle seat. I know that I can handle a claustrophobic trigger, but I still avoid putting myself there, knowing what my brain is capable of. At the same time, when I don't have a choice, I know my brain can handle that, too. Recently, I attended a Cirque du Soleil traveling performance. Anyone who's been to one of these shows knows how tightly packed the audience is. The big top is crowded, dark, hot, and literally defines claustrophobia! I sat through the performance - in a middle seat! - and had a great time, not once feeling the dread (or allowing it to) take over.
If our mind is powerful enough to create fear from "nothing," it's also powerful enough to reframe our thoughts to propel us forward in a positive way. There have been many books written about the power of positive thinking - the most well-known of these is Norman Vincent Peale's, first published over 50 years ago. Recent medical research shows, for example, that a positive expectation of a medication has real measurable physical effects (not just the psychological "placebo effect") on our health.
How does this apply to you as a public speaker? You can control the amount of fear and anxiety you experience around public speaking. You have the power to turn negative and fearful thoughts into positive ones. How do you do it?
1. The first step is being aware of your negative thoughts. Many of these thoughts are subconscious, but becoming aware of them and bringing them forward to your conscious mind is an important step. Once you are aware of these thoughts, you are then able to replace them with positive thoughts. You might say the following to yourself, "I'm an excellent speaker. People want to hear what I have to say. I'm going to have a great time. I'm excited about sharing my expertise." You choose the words that work for you; the important thing is to say them to yourself. This is the first step toward believing your positive thoughts.
2. The next step is visualizing yourself being successful at public speaking. Using your imagination, close your eyes and see yourself in the venue, speaking to an attentive audience. They are smiling and nodding. They are fascinated by what you have to say! Visualize yourself standing confidently, smiling and delivering your presentation clearly, concisely and with passion and enthusiasm. Imagine the audience applauding at the end (why not have a standing ovation while you're at it?). Imagine people seeking you out afterward, expressing gratitude and appreciation for what you've just taught them.
3. Finally, you will want to prepare physically for your presentation. On your way to the venue, warm up your voice by singing along to your favorite music. Breathe deeply. Once you get there, stretch and massage your back, neck, shoulders, chest, jaw and face. Continue deep breathing to bring oxygen to your brain and muscles, improve blood flow, and reduce tension that can make your voice weak or quivery.
If you have severe and paralyzing fear, it might help to see a therapist to get started, but most people who fear public speaking are not paralyzed or phobic. These simple tools may be all you need to start turning around your perceptions. It won't happen overnight, but if you commit to changing your negative thought patterns, you have the power to make it so.
After five years, my acquaintance finally took control of her public speaking fears, and so can you!
Importance Of Leisure Skills
Identify the benefits of having significant activities outside of work. Identify at least three activities in which you would like to participate after office hours. You can join Yoga classes, health club, swimming, music class etc. Leisure skills may not appear to be an important life skill for vocational success, it is important to stress to that it truly is a significant skill. Without meaningful activities to structure a person’s time outside of work, there are a number of troubles that can occur in relation to work.
There are a lot of skills that are needed to effectively participate or contribute in leisure activities. A person needs telephone skills to call and find out about the activity, email skills to make contact with customers, friends and relatives, social skills to interact and make friends with the people at the activity, and money management skills to budget the money to participate in the activity, personality development skills to improve your social relations and status. Training in these skills is available in your area, you need to search on internet or in yellow pages to find out these services and get benefited.
Think about the importance of leisure skills, if you are not doing any productive activity after office hour you will be inactive. There are few troubles that can occur at work if a person does not use time away from office productively. A person may be more appropriate to work a lot of overtime. Those who can lead to feelings of being overworked which can have an effect on job performance. A person may stay behind around work even when he is not working. People who do this usually do not have a lot of social contacts outside of office. Although this may be pleasant for the person, his colleagues may be unfocused and even irritated, which does not add to a good working environment.
A person may be sad because of his deprived social life. This sadness could spill over into the workplace, which leads to damage your image at the workplace. A person may be involved in vicious activities such as using drugs or alcohol. A final trouble can occur when a person uses his free time too effectively. When a person gets so involved in activities outside of work that he is not getting proper sleep or enough sleep, is missing office work, or is spending a lot of money that is needed for essentials, this can interfere with work.
There are a lot of skills that are needed to effectively participate or contribute in leisure activities. A person needs telephone skills to call and find out about the activity, email skills to make contact with customers, friends and relatives, social skills to interact and make friends with the people at the activity, and money management skills to budget the money to participate in the activity, personality development skills to improve your social relations and status. Training in these skills is available in your area, you need to search on internet or in yellow pages to find out these services and get benefited.
Think about the importance of leisure skills, if you are not doing any productive activity after office hour you will be inactive. There are few troubles that can occur at work if a person does not use time away from office productively. A person may be more appropriate to work a lot of overtime. Those who can lead to feelings of being overworked which can have an effect on job performance. A person may stay behind around work even when he is not working. People who do this usually do not have a lot of social contacts outside of office. Although this may be pleasant for the person, his colleagues may be unfocused and even irritated, which does not add to a good working environment.
A person may be sad because of his deprived social life. This sadness could spill over into the workplace, which leads to damage your image at the workplace. A person may be involved in vicious activities such as using drugs or alcohol. A final trouble can occur when a person uses his free time too effectively. When a person gets so involved in activities outside of work that he is not getting proper sleep or enough sleep, is missing office work, or is spending a lot of money that is needed for essentials, this can interfere with work.
Types Of Irritating Bad Habits
There are many bad habits that will irritate your friends and individuals who surround you. They will affect their nerves in a bad ways and want to call it a quit from your company.
These bad habits are of two types:
1. Thoughtless behaviors.
2. Nervous behaviors.
There are bad behaviors when it comes to shopping. If one stands in the line for too long as a result of him engaging the cashier in a conversation, then the buyers behind him will get mad at him. This will send a message that he don’t care and he feels too important than them.
Some buyers might be having a bad behavior of selecting the particular line to use. They will use an express line meant for buyers who purchases 15 items while they have purchased more than 15 items. Also the buyers who have purchased 15 items might be using the one that is meant for more than 15 items, these irritates.
There are nervous behaviors that will irritate people. Cracking knuckles is not good as the sound irritates. The person listening will be in a nervous situation because he doesn’t know at what minute the next one will happen.
Rhythmic movements and actions are bad habits especially if there is no music playing. This involves tapping the feet, drumming the fingers on the desk etc. This habit occurs when one is under stress.
Some of your friends have the bad behaviors of popping the gums they’re chewing. This may drive others crazy.
Swearing when angry is a bad habit. A lot of people do swear and if they do it often, then it would be difficult to know when they actually mean it.
Chewing while the mouth open is a bad behavior that should be avoided at all time. This will cause irritation to people dinning with you. However the problem could be physical and it can be corrected by a dentist or a surgeon.
People who engage in whining or complaining should realize that it’s a bad habit and stop it. It is so annoying if an adult did not stop his childhood whining. This should be brought to a stop.
Gossiping is not good and it results one to feel guilty. Much of the salacious nature of commercial television is due to the fact that most of us like to hear a little good gossip.
In "real" life, gossipers usually have their own lives in shambles. So, they develop the bad habit of gossiping about others as a means of making themselves to feel better. One should find something better to do other than gossiping. If you have got bad habits, there are support groups, books or even counseling from professions that will be of great help in breaking the habit.
These bad habits are of two types:
1. Thoughtless behaviors.
2. Nervous behaviors.
There are bad behaviors when it comes to shopping. If one stands in the line for too long as a result of him engaging the cashier in a conversation, then the buyers behind him will get mad at him. This will send a message that he don’t care and he feels too important than them.
Some buyers might be having a bad behavior of selecting the particular line to use. They will use an express line meant for buyers who purchases 15 items while they have purchased more than 15 items. Also the buyers who have purchased 15 items might be using the one that is meant for more than 15 items, these irritates.
There are nervous behaviors that will irritate people. Cracking knuckles is not good as the sound irritates. The person listening will be in a nervous situation because he doesn’t know at what minute the next one will happen.
Rhythmic movements and actions are bad habits especially if there is no music playing. This involves tapping the feet, drumming the fingers on the desk etc. This habit occurs when one is under stress.
Some of your friends have the bad behaviors of popping the gums they’re chewing. This may drive others crazy.
Swearing when angry is a bad habit. A lot of people do swear and if they do it often, then it would be difficult to know when they actually mean it.
Chewing while the mouth open is a bad behavior that should be avoided at all time. This will cause irritation to people dinning with you. However the problem could be physical and it can be corrected by a dentist or a surgeon.
People who engage in whining or complaining should realize that it’s a bad habit and stop it. It is so annoying if an adult did not stop his childhood whining. This should be brought to a stop.
Gossiping is not good and it results one to feel guilty. Much of the salacious nature of commercial television is due to the fact that most of us like to hear a little good gossip.
In "real" life, gossipers usually have their own lives in shambles. So, they develop the bad habit of gossiping about others as a means of making themselves to feel better. One should find something better to do other than gossiping. If you have got bad habits, there are support groups, books or even counseling from professions that will be of great help in breaking the habit.
The New Wave Of Podcasting
For my part, Podcasts are one of the largest stimulating parts developments in technologically advanced media in years. Along with the accessibility of this reasonably priced technology sound recording software and the fact that almost individual now has access to a computer, podcasts that more or less can make or access webcasts or podcasts they have personally. In line with this, it is not just private individuals who are fond of using podcasts. In fact, the large numbers of podcasts are owned by big communications firms. However that is just the essence of the internet – it levels as the playing field now a days. Whether you like it or not to listen to top 40 from Los Angeles, or several kids spinning punk rock in Birmingham, Alabama, probably you can find it through a podcast.
The thing which I like most about the podcast station is that they allow you to listen to your favorite radio even if you are out of the city where it is situated. I like to listen to WABC in New York, NY, when I went to school there. When I moved move out, I had to leave many things behind, but not the radio. WABC has a live, streaming, podcast on the web, so you can listen to it exactly the way you like it as if you lived there. For me it is a great thing, thanks to podcast stations because, I can listen to all my favorite programs from anywhere in the whole entire country. That simply can not be beat.
Even better, you can find all kinds of programs on podcasts from favorite recipes to religious programs. Just about anything you want.
There is a different way to look for podcasts is by music type. This is not the matter if you use podcasts. You can listen to bluegrass, country, polka, old school soul – you name it and there will probably be a podcast station dedicated to playing it. Actually there are a lot of people out there all over the world wanted to share their music with you and will be simply delighted if you were to listen to their podcast. Further more, it is almost always free!
The thing which I like most about the podcast station is that they allow you to listen to your favorite radio even if you are out of the city where it is situated. I like to listen to WABC in New York, NY, when I went to school there. When I moved move out, I had to leave many things behind, but not the radio. WABC has a live, streaming, podcast on the web, so you can listen to it exactly the way you like it as if you lived there. For me it is a great thing, thanks to podcast stations because, I can listen to all my favorite programs from anywhere in the whole entire country. That simply can not be beat.
Even better, you can find all kinds of programs on podcasts from favorite recipes to religious programs. Just about anything you want.
There is a different way to look for podcasts is by music type. This is not the matter if you use podcasts. You can listen to bluegrass, country, polka, old school soul – you name it and there will probably be a podcast station dedicated to playing it. Actually there are a lot of people out there all over the world wanted to share their music with you and will be simply delighted if you were to listen to their podcast. Further more, it is almost always free!
Healthy Ways Of Coping With Emotions
Emotional distress is a part of life and serves a necessary function in terms of alerting us to problems that need to be resolved. Everybody therefore needs to be able to experience and tolerate a certain amount of distress. Trying to avoid unpleasant thoughts and feelings can actually lead to an increase in the experience of them, the more you try to avoid an experience the more it seems to pursue you. This more than likely has an evolutionary purpose because as long as the distress is avoided the source of the pain remains unresolved.
Experiencing distress and working to resolve the problem behind it is the only way of reducing pain in the long-term. However, sometimes when you are in the middle of an extremely distressing experience, you can easily get swept away by it. You can feel so overwhelmed that the only option seems to be to block out the distress using eating or self-harming behaviour; physical distress/experience being more tangible thus more easy to tolerate than emotional distress/experience.
This however prevents you from identifying the source of the distress and being able to take steps to tackle it. You opt for immediate and brief respite at the expense of longer-term problem resolution and relief. With time this becomes your knee-jerk reaction to distress, other options become impossible to see and as with any experience that is avoided, the more you avoid distress the more uncontrollable and overwhelming it becomes.
Distress, if allowed to will dissipate with time. A useful way of thinking about distress is as a wave that has to be ridden .Distress tolerance is a set of skills that enables you to ride the wave, to survive unpleasant emotional experiences without making them worse. Like impulsive, self harming behaviours (e.g. bingeing and vomiting, self harm, alcohol and drug abuse) they can be used to modulate negative thoughts and feelings. However unlike such behaviours they will not trigger further distress. Although the techniques described here are intended to serve a similar function to that of impulsive behaviours, initially at least they will not be as effective. They will need to be personalised and practiced regularly in order to maximise their effectiveness as distress tolerance techniques.
These skills will help you to gain control over your feelings, stay safe and step back. Once you can step back from your distress, you can see other options.
There are three different types of distress tolerance skills, practice each so that you can discover what works best for you and so develop your own individualized and alternatives to current harmful behaviours.
1. Cognitive Techniques
Thoughts are important in determining our feelings. Strategies which address their role in distress will therefore be extremely important in assisting you to experience and feel in control of their emotional pain.
Thought stopping
Thought stopping is a very simple strategy derived from the anxiety management literature. With practice it can be an excellent and immediate way of pushing a negative thought out of the mind space. However, its impact is brief and thus needs to be followed up by other strategies that aim to occupy the mind space for a longer period of time.
Exercise:
• Place an elastic band on your wrist. As you notice your distress levels rising snap the elastic band and imagine the word STOP in red capital letters flying into your minds eye pushing all other thoughts and feelings out. Repeat this exercise each time your distress levels rise.
Refocusing attention
We only have a certain amount of mind space and so one way to modulate our emotions is to temporarily push out the negative thoughts that are triggering distress and fill it with neutral/positive thoughts so that there is no longer any space for the negative emotion. Refocusing attention involves deliberately directing your attention away from the negative thought and towards a neutral mental activity which will occupy the mind space thus pushing the thought that is causing the distress temporarily out of awareness. There are a number of different mental activities that can be engaged in to achieve this aim:
i. A detailed description of the surrounding
Focus your attention on your surrounding environment. For the next 5 minutes completely fill your mind space with this task. If you notice your mind wandering from this task, as it inevitably will, make a note of where your mind has wandered and then gently refocus your attention on your surroundings. Look to your right. Now slowly scan your environment naming (in your head) as many object as you can. Now look straight ahead of you and focus on the first object that falls in to your line of vision, focus on this object to the exclusion of everything else. Describe this object as if it is the first time you have every seen it. What colour is it? How big is it? What shape is it? What is its texture like? Now, if you see any written words in your environment focus on these words to the exclusion of everything else. Read each letter backwards as if you where seeing these letters for the first time.
ii. Names
Think of the names of as many cities as you can .Now think of all the girls names you can think of beginning with A. Now all the boys names you can think of. Now name as many objects beginning with C as you can”.
iii. Numbers
Take the number 100; subtract 7 and notice the new number; subtract 7 again and notice the new number; subtract 7 and notice the new number. Continue with this exercise until your distress diminishes
Grounding phrase
This is a phrase that reminds you that you can survive the current distress, that it will pass as all feelings inevitably do. You are trying to access a kind, nurturing and reassuring voice. This is by definition difficult, if not impossible to do at times when negative, often excessively critical thoughts are triggering distress. So it is important that this voice is accessed outside of these times (e.g. during the group) and recorded on a flashcard. You can then carry your grounding phrase around with you and read it whenever negative thoughts cause you to feel distressed. If you struggle to access this nurturing voice think about what you would say to someone you really care about if they were distressed or how you would speak to a small child.
2. Sensory Techniques
These skills focus on managing distress through self-nurturing and kindness.
Triggering opposite emotions
First identify the type of emotion that is causing the distress. Labelling the emotions transforms it from an overwhelming experience into a tangible target for intervention. Once the emotion has been identified work out what the opposite emotion and select an activity that will trigger this opposite emotion. Engaging in this activity will trigger the opposite emotion, counteracting the distressing one.
Soothing the senses
One way to reduce emotional distress is to learn to comfort ourselves through soothing each of the five senses; vision, hearing, smell, taste and touch.
Vision:
Focus on nature: take a scenic walk, focus on the vibrant colours of plants/flowers around you, watch fish swimming in a tank/pond, watch birds flying etc
Focus on art: watch a ballet/dance performance. go to a museum with beautiful art
Light a candle and watch the flame
Decorate a room with all of your best/favourite things
Hearing:
Listen to music
Sing/hum to music
Pay attention to the sounds of nature (water, birds, rainfall, leaves rustling)
Talk to others
Smell:
Burn incense
Spray your favourite perfume
Boil cinnamon
Make fresh coffee
Bake a cake
Smell flowers
Taste:
(N.B. This can be a difficult sensation for patients to use initially and so can be excluded until eating has become less emotion driven)
Have a soothing drink
Stuck a peppermint
Chew gum
Treat yourself to food you wouldn’t usually spend money on
Touch
Have a bath
Put clean sheets on your bed
Put a big warm jumper/silky blouse on
Put on body lotion
Wash your hair with nice smelling products
Have a massage
Introducing any new skill/technique can be difficult, however, self soothing maybe be particularly difficult as you may believe that you do not deserve to be nurtured or to have you needs met. It is important therefore to anticipate the negative thoughts and feelings of guilt/shame that you may experience when practicing these techniques and remember that in the longer term they will help you to resolve your problems and move forward from them.
Developing a soothing image.
This involves developing a situation in imagery that you can use to soothe and distract yourself from the actual situation when it becomes distressing. It is important that this image is created and practiced regularly when you are not in crisis so that you are able to access it easily when they really need it.
Exercise:
Close your eyes and become aware of your breathing, breathing in and out of your mouth. Imagining breathing in calmness and relaxation and breathing out distress and tension.
Bring to mind your favourite place and image yourself there. Look around you and take in all of the details of your favourite place, reminding yourself why it is your favourite place. Now think about your favourite time of the year and incorporate this into your image. Focus on the aspect that define this time of the year, the weather, sounds, smells, things your might see. Now adjust your image so that it is your favourite time of the day and become aware of the aspects that define this time of day and the reasons that you enjoy it so much. Now include in your image your favourite person or persons. Focus on that person, your feelings for them and why you have chosen to include them in your image. Now elaborate the image in any other ways that will help you to feel calm and soothed, for example you could introduce your favourite music in to the image, or your favourite pass time. Stay in this image for the next few minutes just enjoying the soothing, reassuring nature of your created environment, absorbing the calmness and pleasure that your surroundings generate in you.
An additional technique that may be useful for those when you feel so overwhelmed by your distress that you are unable to access your grounding image despite frequent practice is to create a ‘bridging’ image. This creates a link from the distressing situation to the grounding image. Examples of such images include: floating away from the distress and towards the grounding image in a boat; taking a glass elevator; an escalator; or being lead towards the grounding image by a good friend.
3. Physiological techniques
The aim here is to reduce distress by interfering with its physiological component through refocusing the senses. This differs from previous strategies because here, instead of introducing stimuli that will trigger a different emotion, you distract yourself from the pain of your internal world by refocusing your attention on your external world. You will be literally physically grounding yourself in your current environment.
Physical grounding
Exercise:
Close your eyes and become aware of your breathing. Focus on your breath as it moves in and out at your nostril. Notice how the air feels as you breath in and then out, notice it’s temperature, how it smells. Now refocus your attention on what you can hear. Listen very carefully to the sounds around you, notice the gaps between sounds, how they blend together. Their volume, pitch, how they eventually fade away. Now notice your feet on the ground. They are literally grounded, connected to the floor. Wiggle your toes inside your shoes. Dig your heels gently into the floor to ground yourself even more. Now become aware of your chair, notice how it is supporting your body, touch it with your hands and notice how it feels. What sort of material is it made, is it warm or cold. Now open your eyes and find an object that is near to you. Pick it up and examine it as if this is the first time you have come across this kind of object. What is it make of, how does it feel, is it warm, cold, rough or smooth. What colour is it? Put the object down. Now clench your fists; notice the tension in your hands. Now release your fists. Now press your palms together, with elbows to the side; press as tightly as you can. Focus all your attention on your palms. Now let go. Finally, roll your head in a circle a few times.
A Grounding position
Our thoughts and feelings influence our bodies. For example when we feel sad or fearful it is reflected in our posture, we may stooped or in some other way make our bodies smaller, subconsciously trying to withdraw from our environment. The direction of influence also flows the other way, so it is possible for the position of our bodies to influence our thoughts and feelings. For example standing up straight, pushing our shoulders back and raising our chins can make us feel stronger and more confident. A grounding position is a physical position in which you feel safe and/or strong. Some people find that curling up is comforting, while others might adopt a more upright stance.
Discover what works for you and then practice it regularly so that you can move easily into it whenever they need to.
A Grounding object
A grounding object is a portable object that can be held during distress as a way of refocusing the senses in the here and now. To maximise the objects effectiveness as a distractor the object must be explored in a similar way to the object focused on in the physical grounding protocol, as if you were coming across it for the first time. It is also important that the object carries some positive meaning for you to assist you in disconnecting from your distress. This, as with most of the other technique will only be effective if personalised and then practiced.
Sensory Distraction
This skill involves unusual, absorbing, but safe sensory stimuli to distract awareness away from painful emotions (similar to thought stopping in its short term nature). E.g. holding ice cubes, crushing egg shells, punching pillows, kneading dough.
Experiencing distress and working to resolve the problem behind it is the only way of reducing pain in the long-term. However, sometimes when you are in the middle of an extremely distressing experience, you can easily get swept away by it. You can feel so overwhelmed that the only option seems to be to block out the distress using eating or self-harming behaviour; physical distress/experience being more tangible thus more easy to tolerate than emotional distress/experience.
This however prevents you from identifying the source of the distress and being able to take steps to tackle it. You opt for immediate and brief respite at the expense of longer-term problem resolution and relief. With time this becomes your knee-jerk reaction to distress, other options become impossible to see and as with any experience that is avoided, the more you avoid distress the more uncontrollable and overwhelming it becomes.
Distress, if allowed to will dissipate with time. A useful way of thinking about distress is as a wave that has to be ridden .Distress tolerance is a set of skills that enables you to ride the wave, to survive unpleasant emotional experiences without making them worse. Like impulsive, self harming behaviours (e.g. bingeing and vomiting, self harm, alcohol and drug abuse) they can be used to modulate negative thoughts and feelings. However unlike such behaviours they will not trigger further distress. Although the techniques described here are intended to serve a similar function to that of impulsive behaviours, initially at least they will not be as effective. They will need to be personalised and practiced regularly in order to maximise their effectiveness as distress tolerance techniques.
These skills will help you to gain control over your feelings, stay safe and step back. Once you can step back from your distress, you can see other options.
There are three different types of distress tolerance skills, practice each so that you can discover what works best for you and so develop your own individualized and alternatives to current harmful behaviours.
1. Cognitive Techniques
Thoughts are important in determining our feelings. Strategies which address their role in distress will therefore be extremely important in assisting you to experience and feel in control of their emotional pain.
Thought stopping
Thought stopping is a very simple strategy derived from the anxiety management literature. With practice it can be an excellent and immediate way of pushing a negative thought out of the mind space. However, its impact is brief and thus needs to be followed up by other strategies that aim to occupy the mind space for a longer period of time.
Exercise:
• Place an elastic band on your wrist. As you notice your distress levels rising snap the elastic band and imagine the word STOP in red capital letters flying into your minds eye pushing all other thoughts and feelings out. Repeat this exercise each time your distress levels rise.
Refocusing attention
We only have a certain amount of mind space and so one way to modulate our emotions is to temporarily push out the negative thoughts that are triggering distress and fill it with neutral/positive thoughts so that there is no longer any space for the negative emotion. Refocusing attention involves deliberately directing your attention away from the negative thought and towards a neutral mental activity which will occupy the mind space thus pushing the thought that is causing the distress temporarily out of awareness. There are a number of different mental activities that can be engaged in to achieve this aim:
i. A detailed description of the surrounding
Focus your attention on your surrounding environment. For the next 5 minutes completely fill your mind space with this task. If you notice your mind wandering from this task, as it inevitably will, make a note of where your mind has wandered and then gently refocus your attention on your surroundings. Look to your right. Now slowly scan your environment naming (in your head) as many object as you can. Now look straight ahead of you and focus on the first object that falls in to your line of vision, focus on this object to the exclusion of everything else. Describe this object as if it is the first time you have every seen it. What colour is it? How big is it? What shape is it? What is its texture like? Now, if you see any written words in your environment focus on these words to the exclusion of everything else. Read each letter backwards as if you where seeing these letters for the first time.
ii. Names
Think of the names of as many cities as you can .Now think of all the girls names you can think of beginning with A. Now all the boys names you can think of. Now name as many objects beginning with C as you can”.
iii. Numbers
Take the number 100; subtract 7 and notice the new number; subtract 7 again and notice the new number; subtract 7 and notice the new number. Continue with this exercise until your distress diminishes
Grounding phrase
This is a phrase that reminds you that you can survive the current distress, that it will pass as all feelings inevitably do. You are trying to access a kind, nurturing and reassuring voice. This is by definition difficult, if not impossible to do at times when negative, often excessively critical thoughts are triggering distress. So it is important that this voice is accessed outside of these times (e.g. during the group) and recorded on a flashcard. You can then carry your grounding phrase around with you and read it whenever negative thoughts cause you to feel distressed. If you struggle to access this nurturing voice think about what you would say to someone you really care about if they were distressed or how you would speak to a small child.
2. Sensory Techniques
These skills focus on managing distress through self-nurturing and kindness.
Triggering opposite emotions
First identify the type of emotion that is causing the distress. Labelling the emotions transforms it from an overwhelming experience into a tangible target for intervention. Once the emotion has been identified work out what the opposite emotion and select an activity that will trigger this opposite emotion. Engaging in this activity will trigger the opposite emotion, counteracting the distressing one.
Soothing the senses
One way to reduce emotional distress is to learn to comfort ourselves through soothing each of the five senses; vision, hearing, smell, taste and touch.
Vision:
Focus on nature: take a scenic walk, focus on the vibrant colours of plants/flowers around you, watch fish swimming in a tank/pond, watch birds flying etc
Focus on art: watch a ballet/dance performance. go to a museum with beautiful art
Light a candle and watch the flame
Decorate a room with all of your best/favourite things
Hearing:
Listen to music
Sing/hum to music
Pay attention to the sounds of nature (water, birds, rainfall, leaves rustling)
Talk to others
Smell:
Burn incense
Spray your favourite perfume
Boil cinnamon
Make fresh coffee
Bake a cake
Smell flowers
Taste:
(N.B. This can be a difficult sensation for patients to use initially and so can be excluded until eating has become less emotion driven)
Have a soothing drink
Stuck a peppermint
Chew gum
Treat yourself to food you wouldn’t usually spend money on
Touch
Have a bath
Put clean sheets on your bed
Put a big warm jumper/silky blouse on
Put on body lotion
Wash your hair with nice smelling products
Have a massage
Introducing any new skill/technique can be difficult, however, self soothing maybe be particularly difficult as you may believe that you do not deserve to be nurtured or to have you needs met. It is important therefore to anticipate the negative thoughts and feelings of guilt/shame that you may experience when practicing these techniques and remember that in the longer term they will help you to resolve your problems and move forward from them.
Developing a soothing image.
This involves developing a situation in imagery that you can use to soothe and distract yourself from the actual situation when it becomes distressing. It is important that this image is created and practiced regularly when you are not in crisis so that you are able to access it easily when they really need it.
Exercise:
Close your eyes and become aware of your breathing, breathing in and out of your mouth. Imagining breathing in calmness and relaxation and breathing out distress and tension.
Bring to mind your favourite place and image yourself there. Look around you and take in all of the details of your favourite place, reminding yourself why it is your favourite place. Now think about your favourite time of the year and incorporate this into your image. Focus on the aspect that define this time of the year, the weather, sounds, smells, things your might see. Now adjust your image so that it is your favourite time of the day and become aware of the aspects that define this time of day and the reasons that you enjoy it so much. Now include in your image your favourite person or persons. Focus on that person, your feelings for them and why you have chosen to include them in your image. Now elaborate the image in any other ways that will help you to feel calm and soothed, for example you could introduce your favourite music in to the image, or your favourite pass time. Stay in this image for the next few minutes just enjoying the soothing, reassuring nature of your created environment, absorbing the calmness and pleasure that your surroundings generate in you.
An additional technique that may be useful for those when you feel so overwhelmed by your distress that you are unable to access your grounding image despite frequent practice is to create a ‘bridging’ image. This creates a link from the distressing situation to the grounding image. Examples of such images include: floating away from the distress and towards the grounding image in a boat; taking a glass elevator; an escalator; or being lead towards the grounding image by a good friend.
3. Physiological techniques
The aim here is to reduce distress by interfering with its physiological component through refocusing the senses. This differs from previous strategies because here, instead of introducing stimuli that will trigger a different emotion, you distract yourself from the pain of your internal world by refocusing your attention on your external world. You will be literally physically grounding yourself in your current environment.
Physical grounding
Exercise:
Close your eyes and become aware of your breathing. Focus on your breath as it moves in and out at your nostril. Notice how the air feels as you breath in and then out, notice it’s temperature, how it smells. Now refocus your attention on what you can hear. Listen very carefully to the sounds around you, notice the gaps between sounds, how they blend together. Their volume, pitch, how they eventually fade away. Now notice your feet on the ground. They are literally grounded, connected to the floor. Wiggle your toes inside your shoes. Dig your heels gently into the floor to ground yourself even more. Now become aware of your chair, notice how it is supporting your body, touch it with your hands and notice how it feels. What sort of material is it made, is it warm or cold. Now open your eyes and find an object that is near to you. Pick it up and examine it as if this is the first time you have come across this kind of object. What is it make of, how does it feel, is it warm, cold, rough or smooth. What colour is it? Put the object down. Now clench your fists; notice the tension in your hands. Now release your fists. Now press your palms together, with elbows to the side; press as tightly as you can. Focus all your attention on your palms. Now let go. Finally, roll your head in a circle a few times.
A Grounding position
Our thoughts and feelings influence our bodies. For example when we feel sad or fearful it is reflected in our posture, we may stooped or in some other way make our bodies smaller, subconsciously trying to withdraw from our environment. The direction of influence also flows the other way, so it is possible for the position of our bodies to influence our thoughts and feelings. For example standing up straight, pushing our shoulders back and raising our chins can make us feel stronger and more confident. A grounding position is a physical position in which you feel safe and/or strong. Some people find that curling up is comforting, while others might adopt a more upright stance.
Discover what works for you and then practice it regularly so that you can move easily into it whenever they need to.
A Grounding object
A grounding object is a portable object that can be held during distress as a way of refocusing the senses in the here and now. To maximise the objects effectiveness as a distractor the object must be explored in a similar way to the object focused on in the physical grounding protocol, as if you were coming across it for the first time. It is also important that the object carries some positive meaning for you to assist you in disconnecting from your distress. This, as with most of the other technique will only be effective if personalised and then practiced.
Sensory Distraction
This skill involves unusual, absorbing, but safe sensory stimuli to distract awareness away from painful emotions (similar to thought stopping in its short term nature). E.g. holding ice cubes, crushing egg shells, punching pillows, kneading dough.
What Is The Real Right-wing Agenda?
Right-wing extremists are the first to wave flags and pretend how much they believe in the Constitution and yet, they constantly whine and complain we can't trust the government. Apparently, they were asleep at the wheel during civics class, when the rest of us learned we the people are the government.
How many times must we endure Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh blather on and on about how we can't trust our own selves, the government? We can't trust ourselves with tax dollars, we can't trust ourselves with health care and we most certainly can't trust us the government, to decide a convicted felon shouldn't be armed to the teeth with every bazooka-type weapon imaginable.
Apparently, the so-called conservative “right” can't even get our own Constitution right. The idea of democracy isn't to openly condemn ourselves by claiming we can't trust the government. Rather, the idea is to elect leaders to represent us and, to replace them when they instead, become right-wing corporate stooges and vote against our best interests.
Besides pretending to care about the unborn while totally screwing the already born, what the right-wing agenda really amounts to is, "we don't believe in spending tax dollars to actually help taxpayers". Rather, their goal is to use tax dollars for enhancing the bottom-line of the military industrial complex and otherwise, enriching corporations at the expense of us the taxpayers.
Any and every use of taxpayer dollars that will actually benefit taxpaying citizens is branded as "socialism" over and over again, the new all-purpose "red scare" bait-and-switch term of the 21st Century. The now entirely discredited Joe McCarthy appears “fair and balanced” alongside these Savage Nation and Coulter forty-five toting, hate-mongering meglomaniacs.
Education is supposedly high on the right-wing “safe issue” list, but conservative legislators consistently vote against increased spending for education. Whatever they can't eliminate because of political popularity, such as Medicare and Social Security, they try to "reform" into oblivion, creating huge funding black holes designed to funnel trillions of taxpayer dollars into big pharma and other deep corporate pockets.
Otherwise, the right-wing agenda is to convince average Joe Americans that all regulation of any kind is evil. When in fact, wise regulation is what keeps tainted meat from ending up in all-American hamburgers, Joe American construction workers safe on their jobs and American Air Lines planes from falling out of American skies.
Wise regulation is the reason banks were relatively sound under Eisenhower. While deregulation is obviously why they began their substantially crooked turn for the worse under Reagan, controlled by bloated greedy bastards of mass deception by the time Bush Junior was finished cutting a final slice out of the deregulation corporate mega-pie.
Is branding human beings “illegal” and blaming them for job losses and contagious diseases any different than what gave rise to Adolf Hitler and Auschwitz? What is the real agenda of slave masters? What is the agenda of pure evil?
What is the real right-wing agenda? You decide.
How many times must we endure Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh blather on and on about how we can't trust our own selves, the government? We can't trust ourselves with tax dollars, we can't trust ourselves with health care and we most certainly can't trust us the government, to decide a convicted felon shouldn't be armed to the teeth with every bazooka-type weapon imaginable.
Apparently, the so-called conservative “right” can't even get our own Constitution right. The idea of democracy isn't to openly condemn ourselves by claiming we can't trust the government. Rather, the idea is to elect leaders to represent us and, to replace them when they instead, become right-wing corporate stooges and vote against our best interests.
Besides pretending to care about the unborn while totally screwing the already born, what the right-wing agenda really amounts to is, "we don't believe in spending tax dollars to actually help taxpayers". Rather, their goal is to use tax dollars for enhancing the bottom-line of the military industrial complex and otherwise, enriching corporations at the expense of us the taxpayers.
Any and every use of taxpayer dollars that will actually benefit taxpaying citizens is branded as "socialism" over and over again, the new all-purpose "red scare" bait-and-switch term of the 21st Century. The now entirely discredited Joe McCarthy appears “fair and balanced” alongside these Savage Nation and Coulter forty-five toting, hate-mongering meglomaniacs.
Education is supposedly high on the right-wing “safe issue” list, but conservative legislators consistently vote against increased spending for education. Whatever they can't eliminate because of political popularity, such as Medicare and Social Security, they try to "reform" into oblivion, creating huge funding black holes designed to funnel trillions of taxpayer dollars into big pharma and other deep corporate pockets.
Otherwise, the right-wing agenda is to convince average Joe Americans that all regulation of any kind is evil. When in fact, wise regulation is what keeps tainted meat from ending up in all-American hamburgers, Joe American construction workers safe on their jobs and American Air Lines planes from falling out of American skies.
Wise regulation is the reason banks were relatively sound under Eisenhower. While deregulation is obviously why they began their substantially crooked turn for the worse under Reagan, controlled by bloated greedy bastards of mass deception by the time Bush Junior was finished cutting a final slice out of the deregulation corporate mega-pie.
Is branding human beings “illegal” and blaming them for job losses and contagious diseases any different than what gave rise to Adolf Hitler and Auschwitz? What is the real agenda of slave masters? What is the agenda of pure evil?
What is the real right-wing agenda? You decide.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
5 Guaranteed Tips That Will Get You Motivated In An Instant
Do you want to learn how you can get motivated immediately? If you do, this will be the right place for you. In this article, you are going to discover 5 guaranteed tips that will get you motivated to do what you need to get done in an instant. Are you ready to discover them?
1. Use the technique of visualization. Think imagine about all the rewards and outcomes that you are going to get from doing the task. When you think about all the rewards such as making big money, driving your dream car and having your friends to envy you, you will turn yourself on.
2. Listen to songs or music that will turn you on. Have you ever heard some music or songs that will motivate you? This is a simple but powerful technique that you can use to motivate yourself. Whenever you are in low state, listen to those music or songs that will get you motivated again. It works and it works wonderfully if you choose the right song.
3. Use positive self-talk or affirmation. This is another simple but powerful technique that you can apply. Most people find this technique not working for them because they are not applying it in the correct way. You need to anchor and associate emotion together with your affirmation. Without emotion, keep telling yourself that you are motivated will not work.
4. Use the reward and punishment system to pressure yourself. Whenever you are not doing the task or putting things off, punish yourself with late sleep, no movies or no games until you get the task done. On the other hand, reward yourself if you take the necessary action and get things done.
5. Do it now without giving yourself any time to think about it. The key is to get started right away so that you will create the momentum that will get you moving. Whenever you have started, you will feel easy to keep on going. Thus, the key is to get started. Just like if you hate to write article, just do it for 10 minutes and you will keep on going without stopping until the task is done.
1. Use the technique of visualization. Think imagine about all the rewards and outcomes that you are going to get from doing the task. When you think about all the rewards such as making big money, driving your dream car and having your friends to envy you, you will turn yourself on.
2. Listen to songs or music that will turn you on. Have you ever heard some music or songs that will motivate you? This is a simple but powerful technique that you can use to motivate yourself. Whenever you are in low state, listen to those music or songs that will get you motivated again. It works and it works wonderfully if you choose the right song.
3. Use positive self-talk or affirmation. This is another simple but powerful technique that you can apply. Most people find this technique not working for them because they are not applying it in the correct way. You need to anchor and associate emotion together with your affirmation. Without emotion, keep telling yourself that you are motivated will not work.
4. Use the reward and punishment system to pressure yourself. Whenever you are not doing the task or putting things off, punish yourself with late sleep, no movies or no games until you get the task done. On the other hand, reward yourself if you take the necessary action and get things done.
5. Do it now without giving yourself any time to think about it. The key is to get started right away so that you will create the momentum that will get you moving. Whenever you have started, you will feel easy to keep on going. Thus, the key is to get started. Just like if you hate to write article, just do it for 10 minutes and you will keep on going without stopping until the task is done.
Romantic Ways To Celebrate A Sweethearts Birthday
If you want to keep your romance alive then you need to take every and any occasion to show that loved one in your life that not only are they special but the events that mark their life and accomplishments are important as well. Finding unique and romantic ways to celebrate your sweethearts birthday is just one of many ways to keep that spark in your relationship burning bright. If you are looking for some new ways to show the love of your life just how special he or she is on their birthday, here are some great romantic ideas to make the day special for you both.
Two Letters
One inexpensive way and surefire way to touch your loved ones heart is by writing two letters. A love letter to your sweetheart telling them how glad you are they are in your life and just how special and important they are to you. And then write a second letter to your loved one's parents thanking them for bringing your partner up to be a loving and caring person. Acknowledging how special he or she is to you will make your loved one feel special and very much loved.
A Personal Photo Album
Taking the time to prepare a special photo album of all those wonderful moments the two of you have shared is one great way to remind them just how special you think they are and how great you two are together. Photos from your first meeting, to your first kiss and every other special moment along the way arranged with small love notes or love poems will certainly create a romantic note to any birthday celebration.
You're Not Getting Older, You're Getting Sexier
Whether you are a man or woman, as those signs of turning middle age start to develop you feel less desirable than you did when you were young. Your sweetheart is no exception. Their birthday is the perfect time to show your loved one you still find them as desirable as you did when you first met or even more so.
Plan a romantic dinner out or a weekend away. Spend the meal flirting just as you did when you were dating and plan an after dinner seduction by creating the right atmosphere with beautiful music, soft candlelight and a romantic nightgown for her or a sexy robe for him. Showing your sweetheart you still find them desirable is one of the most romantic gifts you can give them.
Message in a Jar
Creating a jar full of little love messages for the month of your sweethearts birthday or even for the entire year until their next birthday rolls around can create a romantic month or entire year for that person you love. Simply present them with the gift wrapped jar and instructions for them to read one message each day and they will have daily reminds of your love not to mention a great birthday gift.
Creating a romantic birthday for your sweetheart is a simple matter of showing them how often you think about them and how much you love them.
Two Letters
One inexpensive way and surefire way to touch your loved ones heart is by writing two letters. A love letter to your sweetheart telling them how glad you are they are in your life and just how special and important they are to you. And then write a second letter to your loved one's parents thanking them for bringing your partner up to be a loving and caring person. Acknowledging how special he or she is to you will make your loved one feel special and very much loved.
A Personal Photo Album
Taking the time to prepare a special photo album of all those wonderful moments the two of you have shared is one great way to remind them just how special you think they are and how great you two are together. Photos from your first meeting, to your first kiss and every other special moment along the way arranged with small love notes or love poems will certainly create a romantic note to any birthday celebration.
You're Not Getting Older, You're Getting Sexier
Whether you are a man or woman, as those signs of turning middle age start to develop you feel less desirable than you did when you were young. Your sweetheart is no exception. Their birthday is the perfect time to show your loved one you still find them as desirable as you did when you first met or even more so.
Plan a romantic dinner out or a weekend away. Spend the meal flirting just as you did when you were dating and plan an after dinner seduction by creating the right atmosphere with beautiful music, soft candlelight and a romantic nightgown for her or a sexy robe for him. Showing your sweetheart you still find them desirable is one of the most romantic gifts you can give them.
Message in a Jar
Creating a jar full of little love messages for the month of your sweethearts birthday or even for the entire year until their next birthday rolls around can create a romantic month or entire year for that person you love. Simply present them with the gift wrapped jar and instructions for them to read one message each day and they will have daily reminds of your love not to mention a great birthday gift.
Creating a romantic birthday for your sweetheart is a simple matter of showing them how often you think about them and how much you love them.
Improve Your Relationships By Loving Yourself
Many of us, especially women, tend to put others’ needs before our own. We neglect ourselves and eventually resent those who have been on the receiving end of our love and attention. What we fail to realize is the importance of putting ourselves first. No, it is not selfish. In fact, it’s impossible to meet the needs of others effectively without first being balanced in our own lives. Loving yourself will not only prove to be a positive experience, but it will improve your relationships with others as well.
If we go through our days neglecting our basic needs, we will become very quickly drained of our energy, too exhausted to spend any time on ourselves. When we realize that our own needs are not being met, we become resentful and ultimately withdraw the help and support we so freely offered to others before. However, by focusing on putting ourselves first, we can regain that lost energy, which will give us endless vitality to direct toward others.
Loving and taking better care of yourself is easy if you implement one or more of the simple helpful tips and ideas listed here. When we are happy with the level of attention we are giving ourselves, our energy overflows and we are anxious to help fulfill the needs of those around us. Everyone wins when we learn to love ourselves. Use the following tips to get you started:
Live a healthy lifestyle – How can we expect to accomplish great things if we cannot meet life’s most basic needs? Eat healthy by replacing excess sugar and refined foods with whole foods and lots of water. Give your body the ability to effectively burn the fuel you take in by getting daily exercise, thereby increasing your metabolism. Make sure to get plenty of sleep as well, as our minds do not fully function if they haven’t been allowed to properly recharge themselves.
Express yourself – One of the best ways to take care of ourselves mentally is by frequently expressing how we feel. This can be done in several ways. Mentally, we can express ourselves on paper. Keeping a personal journal in which you can vent when needed will help keep emotions in check. Creative expression is important too, such as allowing yourself to feel and experience the wide range of emotions in a rented movie, or by working on a hobby that’s close to your heart. Photography and other visual arts are good for this. Remember, expressing ourselves creatively is as important as doing so mentally.
Spend some time alone – In order to appreciate ourselves more, we should get to know ourselves better. Some of you may think this will have the reverse effect, but think positively! You would be surprised what becoming introspective will reveal. Discover yourself and learn to love it. Go for a scenic drive. Take a long bath. Surround yourself with music or just quietly meditate. Not only will you appreciate your own company more, but the relaxation will do wonders for your state of mind. Your relationships are sure to improve if others sense your renewed energy and love of life.
Pamper yourself - Finally, take the time to treat yourself to something rewarding. Get a massage, a manicure, or tickets to your favorite sporting event. Show yourself you care about your own happiness by creating more of it in your life. By allowing yourself to enjoy the spotlight now and again, you’ll realize the goodness others feel when you are able to help them.
If we go through our days neglecting our basic needs, we will become very quickly drained of our energy, too exhausted to spend any time on ourselves. When we realize that our own needs are not being met, we become resentful and ultimately withdraw the help and support we so freely offered to others before. However, by focusing on putting ourselves first, we can regain that lost energy, which will give us endless vitality to direct toward others.
Loving and taking better care of yourself is easy if you implement one or more of the simple helpful tips and ideas listed here. When we are happy with the level of attention we are giving ourselves, our energy overflows and we are anxious to help fulfill the needs of those around us. Everyone wins when we learn to love ourselves. Use the following tips to get you started:
Live a healthy lifestyle – How can we expect to accomplish great things if we cannot meet life’s most basic needs? Eat healthy by replacing excess sugar and refined foods with whole foods and lots of water. Give your body the ability to effectively burn the fuel you take in by getting daily exercise, thereby increasing your metabolism. Make sure to get plenty of sleep as well, as our minds do not fully function if they haven’t been allowed to properly recharge themselves.
Express yourself – One of the best ways to take care of ourselves mentally is by frequently expressing how we feel. This can be done in several ways. Mentally, we can express ourselves on paper. Keeping a personal journal in which you can vent when needed will help keep emotions in check. Creative expression is important too, such as allowing yourself to feel and experience the wide range of emotions in a rented movie, or by working on a hobby that’s close to your heart. Photography and other visual arts are good for this. Remember, expressing ourselves creatively is as important as doing so mentally.
Spend some time alone – In order to appreciate ourselves more, we should get to know ourselves better. Some of you may think this will have the reverse effect, but think positively! You would be surprised what becoming introspective will reveal. Discover yourself and learn to love it. Go for a scenic drive. Take a long bath. Surround yourself with music or just quietly meditate. Not only will you appreciate your own company more, but the relaxation will do wonders for your state of mind. Your relationships are sure to improve if others sense your renewed energy and love of life.
Pamper yourself - Finally, take the time to treat yourself to something rewarding. Get a massage, a manicure, or tickets to your favorite sporting event. Show yourself you care about your own happiness by creating more of it in your life. By allowing yourself to enjoy the spotlight now and again, you’ll realize the goodness others feel when you are able to help them.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
‘the Required File Cannot Be Found’ Ipod Error And Recovery
iTunes is the interface software that allows your iPod to interact with computer system. You can use iTunes to sync all files and folders of iPod with computer. But sometimes, iPod fails to sync and displays errors. One of the possible reasons is iPod disk structure corruption that might force you to reformat iPod. After this, you need to restore lost data from backup. However, if backup cannot restore the required information, you should use iPod Recovery applications.
You might encounter the similar error message with your Windows iPod:
“The iPod "iPod name" cannot be synced. The required file cannot be found.”
Cause
Your iPod might fail to sync due to below possible reasons:
• Corrupted ‘iPod Photo Cache’ folder
• iTunes installation files are corrupted or deleted
• Corrupted files in iTunes library
• USB connection issues
• Computer firewall or antivirus problems
• Out-of-date Windows installation
• Disk use is not enabled in iTunes
• iPod disk structure is damaged
Solution
You need to apply these methods to solve the existing problem:
• Delete the corrupted ‘’iPod Photo Cache’ folder. To do so, click Start->Search->All files and folders and type ‘iPod Photo Cache’ and search over the entire hard drive. Delete the folder when located
• Disconnect your iPod from computer and remove ‘iTunes’ and ‘QuickTime’ using ‘Add or Remove programs’ feature in Control Panel. Next, use Windows Installer Cleanup Utility to remove all their installation files from computer. You should then install latest version of iTunes and QuickTime
• Find and delete the corrupted files from iTunes Libraray, if any
• For correcting USB issues, first try connecting your iPod to the rear port. If this doesn’t help, perform steps like reinstalling or updating USB drivers and using a new USB cord
• Try allowing your iTunes onto your computer’s security/firewall programs
• Update Windows installation with the latest updates and service packs available
• You can also attempt to enable disk use in iTunes
• If the problem continues, iPod disk structure might be damaged. Connect your iPod and run chkdsk. If this doesn’t resolve the issue, reformat the iPod and restore lost data from backup.
If data backup is not in clean state or not available, you can use iPod Data Recovery solutions. These are powerful iPod Recovery utilities that can restore lost data in all logical data loss cases.
Stellar Phoenix iPod Recovery is an advanced recovery tool for lost music files, videos, documents, podcasts, graphics and other data from crashed iPod. It is available for both Mac and Windows operating systems. It is compatible with iPod Nano, iPod Classic, iPod Mini and iPod Shuffle.
You might encounter the similar error message with your Windows iPod:
“The iPod "iPod name" cannot be synced. The required file cannot be found.”
Cause
Your iPod might fail to sync due to below possible reasons:
• Corrupted ‘iPod Photo Cache’ folder
• iTunes installation files are corrupted or deleted
• Corrupted files in iTunes library
• USB connection issues
• Computer firewall or antivirus problems
• Out-of-date Windows installation
• Disk use is not enabled in iTunes
• iPod disk structure is damaged
Solution
You need to apply these methods to solve the existing problem:
• Delete the corrupted ‘’iPod Photo Cache’ folder. To do so, click Start->Search->All files and folders and type ‘iPod Photo Cache’ and search over the entire hard drive. Delete the folder when located
• Disconnect your iPod from computer and remove ‘iTunes’ and ‘QuickTime’ using ‘Add or Remove programs’ feature in Control Panel. Next, use Windows Installer Cleanup Utility to remove all their installation files from computer. You should then install latest version of iTunes and QuickTime
• Find and delete the corrupted files from iTunes Libraray, if any
• For correcting USB issues, first try connecting your iPod to the rear port. If this doesn’t help, perform steps like reinstalling or updating USB drivers and using a new USB cord
• Try allowing your iTunes onto your computer’s security/firewall programs
• Update Windows installation with the latest updates and service packs available
• You can also attempt to enable disk use in iTunes
• If the problem continues, iPod disk structure might be damaged. Connect your iPod and run chkdsk. If this doesn’t resolve the issue, reformat the iPod and restore lost data from backup.
If data backup is not in clean state or not available, you can use iPod Data Recovery solutions. These are powerful iPod Recovery utilities that can restore lost data in all logical data loss cases.
Stellar Phoenix iPod Recovery is an advanced recovery tool for lost music files, videos, documents, podcasts, graphics and other data from crashed iPod. It is available for both Mac and Windows operating systems. It is compatible with iPod Nano, iPod Classic, iPod Mini and iPod Shuffle.
Wear Fancy Dress To Become A 70s Pop Star
Fancy dress parties are always great fun, whatever your age. At the moment, there's a huge 70s revival, popular with all age groups whether or not they experienced this decade first time round. 70s fancy dress is an ideal theme for a party and, as it was such a lively decade with so much going on, you will never be stuck for an idea. The 70s produced some outrageous outfits, from thigh high PVC boots and ten inch platform shoes, to huge Afro wigs and bell bottom jeans.
If you like, you can be a pop star for a night and have fun disco dancing in the guise of your favourite singer. There are so many excellent 70s fancy dress costumes to choose from nowadays. You can either order a complete outfit from an on line store or find a specialist shop in your local town. Otherwise, you can improvise by mixing and matching second hand or vintage clothing. Good places to search are your local market, car boot sale, second-hand or charity shops. Ebay and other auction sites are also excellent sources for either replica or genuine 70s memorabilia. You may have to alter or adapt your outfit, but with a little ingenuity and imagination you can come up with an excellent and authentic costume. 70s fancy dress accessories are readily available from many outlets, from where you can buy anything you like such as wigs, PVC boots, white fishnet tights, glitter hair bands, wooden beads and so on. The advantage of buying your 70s costume from a specialist fancy dress retailer is that you will be able to buy the complete "look" from one place, so you do not have to search several places for all the bits and pieces or matching accessories. A further advantage is that these days fancy dress retailers are able to offer a wide range of sizes, from children's sizes to extra large, so there will be something to suit everybody.
Whether you are into disco dancing or heavy rock, there is sure to be a music themed character you can dress up as. If you are looking for an easy 70s fancy dress idea, how about you and some friends dressing up as the members of Status Quo? All you will need are white shirts, denim waistcoats, tight jeans, big belt buckles and fake ponytails. Don't forget your guitars! Glam rock fans may prefer to keep their costume home-grown British and dress up as Noddy Holder from Slade in a yellow checked jacket and outrageous top hat. Or you could be a Bay City Roller and wear a white jacket and mid-length trousers trimmed in tartan, David Bowie in his Ziggy Stardust phase or a member of Showaddywaddy in a brightly colour Teddy boy suit. Just make sure you get the glitter, the microphone and the guitar to help make the outfit and above all, remember to accessorize, as finishing touches are what will really make your 70s fancy dress costume look authentic.
Full range of costumes for a 70s fancy dress. Further styles of 70s fancy dress
If you like, you can be a pop star for a night and have fun disco dancing in the guise of your favourite singer. There are so many excellent 70s fancy dress costumes to choose from nowadays. You can either order a complete outfit from an on line store or find a specialist shop in your local town. Otherwise, you can improvise by mixing and matching second hand or vintage clothing. Good places to search are your local market, car boot sale, second-hand or charity shops. Ebay and other auction sites are also excellent sources for either replica or genuine 70s memorabilia. You may have to alter or adapt your outfit, but with a little ingenuity and imagination you can come up with an excellent and authentic costume. 70s fancy dress accessories are readily available from many outlets, from where you can buy anything you like such as wigs, PVC boots, white fishnet tights, glitter hair bands, wooden beads and so on. The advantage of buying your 70s costume from a specialist fancy dress retailer is that you will be able to buy the complete "look" from one place, so you do not have to search several places for all the bits and pieces or matching accessories. A further advantage is that these days fancy dress retailers are able to offer a wide range of sizes, from children's sizes to extra large, so there will be something to suit everybody.
Whether you are into disco dancing or heavy rock, there is sure to be a music themed character you can dress up as. If you are looking for an easy 70s fancy dress idea, how about you and some friends dressing up as the members of Status Quo? All you will need are white shirts, denim waistcoats, tight jeans, big belt buckles and fake ponytails. Don't forget your guitars! Glam rock fans may prefer to keep their costume home-grown British and dress up as Noddy Holder from Slade in a yellow checked jacket and outrageous top hat. Or you could be a Bay City Roller and wear a white jacket and mid-length trousers trimmed in tartan, David Bowie in his Ziggy Stardust phase or a member of Showaddywaddy in a brightly colour Teddy boy suit. Just make sure you get the glitter, the microphone and the guitar to help make the outfit and above all, remember to accessorize, as finishing touches are what will really make your 70s fancy dress costume look authentic.
Full range of costumes for a 70s fancy dress. Further styles of 70s fancy dress
Htc Desire Deals- To Make You Speechless
HTC Desire Deals a damn good looking phone with an auto-focus camera of 5 mega pixel. There are some other camera features like Face detection, Photo Geo Tagging, Wide screen Photos , Photo Album. You can record the videos and can play them with the help of video recorder and the video player respectively. The phone avails you with the facility of sending and receiving messages of various formats like text, multimedia, email. The phone has got all the features required by you. There is a music player in the phone in which you can store practically unlimited number of your favorite songs. You can also tune yourself into your favorite FM channel with the help of the Radio present in the phone. The memory card with the phone supports memory upto 32GB and the phone is with 576MB RAM and 512 MB ROM. There is the facility of surfing Internet in the phone with the help of HTML Browser. And you can also visit some of your websites like the Orkut, gmail, Twitter, Facebook etc. HTC desire works on the Android Operating system. The phone is of 135 gram in weight and the dimension of the phone is 119 x 60 x 11.9 mm.
HTC Desire deals are Contract deals, SIM free deals, SIM Only deals, Pay as you go deals. In SIM free deals you can have any of the SIM connection as well as the mobile phone of your choice. In HTC Desire Deals you can have the free gifts like the mobile phone accessories, Laptops, Play Station, Gaming Consoles, Digital Camera,DVD Player, Plasma TV, home Appliances etc .For be the owner of these gifts you have to sign a bond with the service providers like Orange, Three, T-Mobile, Pink Mobile, O2, virgin , Vodafone. The contract period can be from 1 to 2 year. In this period you can pay your phone bills monthly. And once your contract period is over you can either have the facility of mobile upgradation or you can also switch to a different network. There are websites like best contract mobile phones you can have all the details of this phone and the deals and plans the phone is offering .
HTC Desire deals are Contract deals, SIM free deals, SIM Only deals, Pay as you go deals. In SIM free deals you can have any of the SIM connection as well as the mobile phone of your choice. In HTC Desire Deals you can have the free gifts like the mobile phone accessories, Laptops, Play Station, Gaming Consoles, Digital Camera,DVD Player, Plasma TV, home Appliances etc .For be the owner of these gifts you have to sign a bond with the service providers like Orange, Three, T-Mobile, Pink Mobile, O2, virgin , Vodafone. The contract period can be from 1 to 2 year. In this period you can pay your phone bills monthly. And once your contract period is over you can either have the facility of mobile upgradation or you can also switch to a different network. There are websites like best contract mobile phones you can have all the details of this phone and the deals and plans the phone is offering .
5 Quality Beginner Acoustic Guitar
So you’ve decided you want to buy your first beginner acoustic guitar. It can be frustrating trying to figure out which one to buy. With this post I’ve tried to make the process a little easier by doing a lot of research for you. All the beginner guitars reviewed for this post are from manufactures that have a reputation for quality and have been around a long time.
I would advise against buying the cheapest guitar you can find. Even though you’re beginning to play the guitar you want a decent sound. You want a low action so it’s easier to play and learn on.
Since the beginner guitar player is usually not going to go out and spend big money on a new acoustic guitar I’ve taken a look at some guitars under $400 dollars.
They’re all top sellers at the online guitar shops and get high ratings from people that use them. The reviews are in not particular order.
Fender CD60 Dreadnought - The Fender CD 60 has a relatively low action which is good for the beginner guitar player. The dreadnought shape really brings out the low sounds so your chords sound deep and really rich.
The reviews around the internet are great on this guitar.
You might be skeptical that you can get a good guitar with a hard-shell case for $200 bucks. The fact that the Fender CD 60 comes with the case makes it a fantastic deal.
Jasmine by Takamine S34C NEX Cutaway - The Jasmine by Takamine line of acoustic guitars has consistently been one of the top brands for the beginner guitar player.
The Jasmine by Takamine S34C NEX Cutaway Acoustic Guitar is a great sounding beginner's guitar at a great price. Spruce top, nato back and sides, 21-fret mahogany neck, dark-stained rosewood bridge and fretboard, and covered chrome tuning machines.
The wood looks great, the sound and tone is pretty good and plays surprisingly loud.
It’s really a decent guitar for the money and you break away for the normal dreadnought guitar and get a cutaway.
The Jasmine by Takamine S34C NEX Cutaway is an excellent choice for the beginner acoustic guitar player because it’s inexpensive yet highly playable.
Washburn D10S - If you compare this guitar to others in the price range the Washburn D10S acoustic guitar is in the top of the class. This absolutely is a great beginner guitar or for someone who wants a good sounding guitar but can’t afford to break the bank. I read an article about the Washburn D10S in Acoustic Guitar Magazine and they rated it the best guitar for under 500 bucks!
Seagull S6 - This is another great beginner guitar. It’s consistently a top seller at all the online music stores and the Seagull S6 won the silver medal in Acoustic Guitar magazine’s player’s choice awards for 2008. It won the gold for “best beginner guitar” in 2006.
The Seagull S6 cedar acoustic guitar is a great-looking a beginner guitar. It’s an award winner that has the perfect combination of precision and low price!
Yamaha F335 - This is a good guitar to start learning on and will be quite helpful for a beginner guitar player because the action is low. Action refers to the space between the strings and the fretboard and a low action is much easier to play for the beginner.
Yamaha F335 guitar sounds pretty good, plays good for the beginner guitar player, and the F335 is the easiest on the budget of the five.
I would advise against buying the cheapest guitar you can find. Even though you’re beginning to play the guitar you want a decent sound. You want a low action so it’s easier to play and learn on.
Since the beginner guitar player is usually not going to go out and spend big money on a new acoustic guitar I’ve taken a look at some guitars under $400 dollars.
They’re all top sellers at the online guitar shops and get high ratings from people that use them. The reviews are in not particular order.
Fender CD60 Dreadnought - The Fender CD 60 has a relatively low action which is good for the beginner guitar player. The dreadnought shape really brings out the low sounds so your chords sound deep and really rich.
The reviews around the internet are great on this guitar.
You might be skeptical that you can get a good guitar with a hard-shell case for $200 bucks. The fact that the Fender CD 60 comes with the case makes it a fantastic deal.
Jasmine by Takamine S34C NEX Cutaway - The Jasmine by Takamine line of acoustic guitars has consistently been one of the top brands for the beginner guitar player.
The Jasmine by Takamine S34C NEX Cutaway Acoustic Guitar is a great sounding beginner's guitar at a great price. Spruce top, nato back and sides, 21-fret mahogany neck, dark-stained rosewood bridge and fretboard, and covered chrome tuning machines.
The wood looks great, the sound and tone is pretty good and plays surprisingly loud.
It’s really a decent guitar for the money and you break away for the normal dreadnought guitar and get a cutaway.
The Jasmine by Takamine S34C NEX Cutaway is an excellent choice for the beginner acoustic guitar player because it’s inexpensive yet highly playable.
Washburn D10S - If you compare this guitar to others in the price range the Washburn D10S acoustic guitar is in the top of the class. This absolutely is a great beginner guitar or for someone who wants a good sounding guitar but can’t afford to break the bank. I read an article about the Washburn D10S in Acoustic Guitar Magazine and they rated it the best guitar for under 500 bucks!
Seagull S6 - This is another great beginner guitar. It’s consistently a top seller at all the online music stores and the Seagull S6 won the silver medal in Acoustic Guitar magazine’s player’s choice awards for 2008. It won the gold for “best beginner guitar” in 2006.
The Seagull S6 cedar acoustic guitar is a great-looking a beginner guitar. It’s an award winner that has the perfect combination of precision and low price!
Yamaha F335 - This is a good guitar to start learning on and will be quite helpful for a beginner guitar player because the action is low. Action refers to the space between the strings and the fretboard and a low action is much easier to play for the beginner.
Yamaha F335 guitar sounds pretty good, plays good for the beginner guitar player, and the F335 is the easiest on the budget of the five.
10 Ways To Get Skinny Fast Without Starving Yourself
When you’re over 10 pounds overweight and eager to get rid of the fat, it’s hard to ignore all the siren calls from various fad diet marketers promising that if you’ll just try Quickie Fast 2000 you’re sure to lose 10 pounds or more overnight.
Hot dang! You think that your problem of how to get skinny fast is now solved because a 30-day supply of Quickie Fast 2000 is going to melt those pounds away in no time. Quickie Fast has the power to do this because it contains a powerful appetite suppressant that will stop you from stuffing your face with food – both good and bad food.
Listen, starving yourself to lose weight isn’t a good idea. But all those calories in food is what’s making you fat, so you’re tempted to try quick solutions like drastically reducing the amount of food you eat. I’m telling you, your body will rebel if you do this.
Anyway, the makers of Quickie Fast 2000 make you think that eating a lot less food means losing more weight. So, you decide to try their product and the first thing you notice is that these diet pills make you feel real jittery. Yeah, you drop a bunch of water weight, but you really feel like crap so you end up throwing away those miracle pills.
Okay, now what are your other options?
Unfortunately, some people resort to sticking their finger down their throat and making themselves throw their food up after eating. This kind of behavior leads to a serious eating disorder called bulimia. Once you go down this road, it’s hard to get back to eating and enjoying food like a normal, healthy person. So, how to get skinny without starving or throwing up?
I want you to know right now that it IS possible for you to lose the weight you want and stay perfectly healthy. You don’t need any tricks or gimmicks that could risk your safety and well being. Here are some great tips on how to get skinny at home or work while continuing to enjoy food:
Set a Goal for Yourself – Setting goals may not be your thing, but it will sure help you when it comes to losing weight. Get a 3x5 note card and write down how much weight you are going to lose and how much time it will take you to do that. Put this note card where you can read it often. Every time you look at that card, it will plant a seed of success in your mind. Example: I am going to lose 20 pounds in 90 days.
Eat a Bowl of Soup – There are several kinds of delicious soups you can eat every day for lunch or dinner. Vegetable, tomato, chicken noodle, lentil, black bean, turkey and rice, fish and many more. For lunch you can have soup and a side salad. Or at dinner time, start with a hot bowl of soup. Soup is low in calories and good for you.
Substitute Fruits for Sweets - Instead of munching on cookies and candy between meals, munch on apples, oranges, tangerines, grapes, cherries, pears, peaches, plums, mangoes or pineapple. These fruits contain sugar and will give you that sugar boost you enjoy.
Eat Breakfast – If you are a chronic breakfast skipper – cut it out! I know you think you’re cutting down on calories by easily skipping this meal, but you’re mistaken if you think this is helping you to lose weight. What you are really doing is slowing down your energy level and metabolism for the day. Plus, you’re more likely to eat junk food before lunch because you’re so hungry.
Eat a bowl of oatmeal, a breakfast bar, a bowl of fresh fruit or cereal in the morning. Your body will thank you for this by giving you more energy and boosting your body’s ability to burn fat.
Drink More Water – Maybe you’ve heard this before, but it’s worth repeating: drink several glasses of water a day. Water helps to flush your body of toxins and also fills you up so you eat less calories.
Eat a Pint of Ice Cream – What’s this doing on the list? It’s here because I don’t believe in extreme food depravity while on a diet. If you love ice cream (like a lot of people do) then keep eating ice cream. The only thing is – you have to put limits on your indulgence. Instead of a gallon or half gallon, limit yourself to one pint of your favorite ice cream per month. If you run out before the month is over – too bad!
Ration this sweet treat like you’re on a deserted island and you have no choice but to make it last longer. Soon you’ll realize you don’t even desire to eat more than this small amount.
Use Smaller Plates and Glasses – Get a set of small plates and glasses to eat meals from. Smaller servings means you’ll automatically eat less, since we all tend to eat everything on our plates. When using this method, resist the urge to have seconds. That would defeat the purpose of smaller serving sizes.
Cut Down on Soda – Soda is filled with empty calories and sugar. There is also no nutritional value in drinking soda. If you must have fizz, then drink seltzer water. Other good soda substitutes are: tea, water and smoothies.
Eliminate One Fatty Food Each Week – Fatty foods can be highly addictive just like any drug. Trying to stop eating all of them cold turkey is why many people fail on their quest to lose weight. They crave their favorite fatty foods too much. Instead of the cold turkey method, eliminate one fatty food item from your diet each week. This means it should not be anywhere in your home. Example: week one you stop eating potato chips, week two you stop eating fried chicken, week three it’s donuts, and so on . . .
Make a Date with Yourself to Exercise – You’ve got to exercise in order to lose weight. This is a fact and there’s no getting around it. Does that mean that exercising has to be unpleasant? No.
Walking is the best low-impact exercise you can do. You walk all the time to get from the couch to the kitchen so you can add a little more walking into your routine and walk for your health.
Like to dance? Great. Put on your favorite music and dance around the living room for 30 minutes. Lots of fun and you burn calories too.
Some other mild activities are: biking, swimming, playing ball outside, jumping jacks, jumping on a trampoline and walking up and down stairs. Schedule a time to do your exercise activities three times a week – keep the appointment.
Take some action on these tips and start getting skinny today!
Hot dang! You think that your problem of how to get skinny fast is now solved because a 30-day supply of Quickie Fast 2000 is going to melt those pounds away in no time. Quickie Fast has the power to do this because it contains a powerful appetite suppressant that will stop you from stuffing your face with food – both good and bad food.
Listen, starving yourself to lose weight isn’t a good idea. But all those calories in food is what’s making you fat, so you’re tempted to try quick solutions like drastically reducing the amount of food you eat. I’m telling you, your body will rebel if you do this.
Anyway, the makers of Quickie Fast 2000 make you think that eating a lot less food means losing more weight. So, you decide to try their product and the first thing you notice is that these diet pills make you feel real jittery. Yeah, you drop a bunch of water weight, but you really feel like crap so you end up throwing away those miracle pills.
Okay, now what are your other options?
Unfortunately, some people resort to sticking their finger down their throat and making themselves throw their food up after eating. This kind of behavior leads to a serious eating disorder called bulimia. Once you go down this road, it’s hard to get back to eating and enjoying food like a normal, healthy person. So, how to get skinny without starving or throwing up?
I want you to know right now that it IS possible for you to lose the weight you want and stay perfectly healthy. You don’t need any tricks or gimmicks that could risk your safety and well being. Here are some great tips on how to get skinny at home or work while continuing to enjoy food:
Set a Goal for Yourself – Setting goals may not be your thing, but it will sure help you when it comes to losing weight. Get a 3x5 note card and write down how much weight you are going to lose and how much time it will take you to do that. Put this note card where you can read it often. Every time you look at that card, it will plant a seed of success in your mind. Example: I am going to lose 20 pounds in 90 days.
Eat a Bowl of Soup – There are several kinds of delicious soups you can eat every day for lunch or dinner. Vegetable, tomato, chicken noodle, lentil, black bean, turkey and rice, fish and many more. For lunch you can have soup and a side salad. Or at dinner time, start with a hot bowl of soup. Soup is low in calories and good for you.
Substitute Fruits for Sweets - Instead of munching on cookies and candy between meals, munch on apples, oranges, tangerines, grapes, cherries, pears, peaches, plums, mangoes or pineapple. These fruits contain sugar and will give you that sugar boost you enjoy.
Eat Breakfast – If you are a chronic breakfast skipper – cut it out! I know you think you’re cutting down on calories by easily skipping this meal, but you’re mistaken if you think this is helping you to lose weight. What you are really doing is slowing down your energy level and metabolism for the day. Plus, you’re more likely to eat junk food before lunch because you’re so hungry.
Eat a bowl of oatmeal, a breakfast bar, a bowl of fresh fruit or cereal in the morning. Your body will thank you for this by giving you more energy and boosting your body’s ability to burn fat.
Drink More Water – Maybe you’ve heard this before, but it’s worth repeating: drink several glasses of water a day. Water helps to flush your body of toxins and also fills you up so you eat less calories.
Eat a Pint of Ice Cream – What’s this doing on the list? It’s here because I don’t believe in extreme food depravity while on a diet. If you love ice cream (like a lot of people do) then keep eating ice cream. The only thing is – you have to put limits on your indulgence. Instead of a gallon or half gallon, limit yourself to one pint of your favorite ice cream per month. If you run out before the month is over – too bad!
Ration this sweet treat like you’re on a deserted island and you have no choice but to make it last longer. Soon you’ll realize you don’t even desire to eat more than this small amount.
Use Smaller Plates and Glasses – Get a set of small plates and glasses to eat meals from. Smaller servings means you’ll automatically eat less, since we all tend to eat everything on our plates. When using this method, resist the urge to have seconds. That would defeat the purpose of smaller serving sizes.
Cut Down on Soda – Soda is filled with empty calories and sugar. There is also no nutritional value in drinking soda. If you must have fizz, then drink seltzer water. Other good soda substitutes are: tea, water and smoothies.
Eliminate One Fatty Food Each Week – Fatty foods can be highly addictive just like any drug. Trying to stop eating all of them cold turkey is why many people fail on their quest to lose weight. They crave their favorite fatty foods too much. Instead of the cold turkey method, eliminate one fatty food item from your diet each week. This means it should not be anywhere in your home. Example: week one you stop eating potato chips, week two you stop eating fried chicken, week three it’s donuts, and so on . . .
Make a Date with Yourself to Exercise – You’ve got to exercise in order to lose weight. This is a fact and there’s no getting around it. Does that mean that exercising has to be unpleasant? No.
Walking is the best low-impact exercise you can do. You walk all the time to get from the couch to the kitchen so you can add a little more walking into your routine and walk for your health.
Like to dance? Great. Put on your favorite music and dance around the living room for 30 minutes. Lots of fun and you burn calories too.
Some other mild activities are: biking, swimming, playing ball outside, jumping jacks, jumping on a trampoline and walking up and down stairs. Schedule a time to do your exercise activities three times a week – keep the appointment.
Take some action on these tips and start getting skinny today!
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Mother In Law Gifts That Are Guaranteed To Please.
Because she is your mother in law you might feel you do not know her tastes that well, because you’ve not been married to her wonderful son or daughter for all that long …or she's just a little difficult to please, or get to know (despite all the years you and her beloved off spring have been wed.), You've been tipped off by your spouse that she doesn't want another scarf, candle, vase or gift basket. )…or she already has everything she wants or needs apart from the proverbial box to put it all in. Here is a suggestion for a gift that can’t fail, that won't wind up in the back of the closet, re-gifted, or auctioned on eBay.
There are always a couple of people on our Christmas shopping list's that we procrastinate to buy for those who its more like a super human challenge than a pleasant outing at the mall, Who hasn't been struck with that feeling of Christmas shopping dread at the thought of gift buying for those hard-to-please people whether they be our mothers or grandmothers or worse still our mothers-in-law.
Well here is the solution to your problem a gift made by a female with other females in mind.
We ladies whether we are wives and mothers, grandmothers or the hated mother in law, all share one common affliction we never feel loved enough! We can never be told anywhere near enough times how much we are loved cherished and appreciated by closest family members, in fact we worry sometimes if we are loved by anyone out there at all.
All you ladies reading this recognize this to be true particularly if you have been a wife and mother for some time , we all feel neglected and unappreciated by our husbands and children to a greater or lesser extent, so benefit from this all consuming female inadequacy and choose a Christmas gift for mom in law that unashamedly expresses a personal outpouring of your love and affection, gratitude and appreciation for all that she does and has done for you , as a Christmas present. This is a gift No woman on the face of the planet could resist not ,even the most cold hearted and cantankerous seeming of mother-in-laws.
Their hearts will literally thaw before your eyes on presentation of such a Christmas present. Shop for Christmas gifts that feature a personal message of love for that important, yet sometimes seemingly impossible to buy for, female of the family. Let me tell you, watching the ice melt from the mother-in-law's usually glacial countenance when she unwraps such a gift is a little Christmas miracle! All to itself.
No matter how aloof and reserved they may appear on the surface all female hearts are touched by openly loving and over the top sentimental gifts it never fails. There is not a female heart of any age or race alive on this whole wide world that isn't affected by such a gift. A Christmas gift that's inscribed with a beautiful, heart-warming sentiment of affection, will strike even the most verbally articulate women dumb, all be it for just a little while -won't that be sweet Christmas music to the ears of any son or daughter in law.
There are always a couple of people on our Christmas shopping list's that we procrastinate to buy for those who its more like a super human challenge than a pleasant outing at the mall, Who hasn't been struck with that feeling of Christmas shopping dread at the thought of gift buying for those hard-to-please people whether they be our mothers or grandmothers or worse still our mothers-in-law.
Well here is the solution to your problem a gift made by a female with other females in mind.
We ladies whether we are wives and mothers, grandmothers or the hated mother in law, all share one common affliction we never feel loved enough! We can never be told anywhere near enough times how much we are loved cherished and appreciated by closest family members, in fact we worry sometimes if we are loved by anyone out there at all.
All you ladies reading this recognize this to be true particularly if you have been a wife and mother for some time , we all feel neglected and unappreciated by our husbands and children to a greater or lesser extent, so benefit from this all consuming female inadequacy and choose a Christmas gift for mom in law that unashamedly expresses a personal outpouring of your love and affection, gratitude and appreciation for all that she does and has done for you , as a Christmas present. This is a gift No woman on the face of the planet could resist not ,even the most cold hearted and cantankerous seeming of mother-in-laws.
Their hearts will literally thaw before your eyes on presentation of such a Christmas present. Shop for Christmas gifts that feature a personal message of love for that important, yet sometimes seemingly impossible to buy for, female of the family. Let me tell you, watching the ice melt from the mother-in-law's usually glacial countenance when she unwraps such a gift is a little Christmas miracle! All to itself.
No matter how aloof and reserved they may appear on the surface all female hearts are touched by openly loving and over the top sentimental gifts it never fails. There is not a female heart of any age or race alive on this whole wide world that isn't affected by such a gift. A Christmas gift that's inscribed with a beautiful, heart-warming sentiment of affection, will strike even the most verbally articulate women dumb, all be it for just a little while -won't that be sweet Christmas music to the ears of any son or daughter in law.
The Different Ways We Grieve
Men, Women and Children Grieve Differently
Grief is a painful struggle, but also a normal reaction to loss. There are many different ways to confront grief and each person deals with grief in a different way. Men, women and children do not and will never experience and express grief the same way. Although never truly resolved, grief must be expressed to reach a passage of healing. The transition for a man from grief to healing could be accomplished by performing physical tasks. On the other hand, a woman may talk with others and share her grief. A child will need encouragement from a parent or other adults close to them to identify and express his or her emotions. Men and children are less able to put into words what they are feeling during the grieving process. They are much more likely to put their feeling into action and deal with the grief physically rather than emotionally.
Typically, men do not feel comfortable expressing their grief verbally. It will help you to understand that men are goal oriented. They will commence activities or perform tasks to fulfill a sense of accomplishment. For example, men may build a memorial or write a eulogy for his loved one. Either task fulfills a sense of accomplishment and distracts his thoughts until he is ready to begin the transition back to reality and reach a passage to healing. Men tend to control their outward show of emotion. Even though men express little or no emotion he is still feeling a devastating sense of loss.
Women, on the other hand, easily express their grief emotionally. Endlessly remembering, talking and spending extended periods crying over their loss. Women find their place in the world through relationships so it will come as no surprise they become more active in organizations and groups after the loss of a loved one. Sharing, expressing and experiencing her grief socially will encourage a passage to healing after loss.
Children experience a spectrum of losses. They need to learn and be encouraged to experience their grief in ways that are familiar to them. Children often do well expressing their feelings of grief in playtime, art and music. During playtime children transcend into a fantasy world. At this time, acknowledge the child’s recognition or rejection of their loved one’s passing. Slowly the child will begin to translate the grief and healing into reality.
Whether we are men, women or children, the way we grieve is extraordinarily individual. Furthermore, there is no right way to grieve. Regardless of differences in individual grief, two components need to be established, support and encouragement from others. If you are grieving talk to people you can trust and who love you. Share your thoughts and emotions. No matter who you are, grief must be expressed before it can be resolved and before you can reach a passage to healing.
Grief is a painful struggle, but also a normal reaction to loss. There are many different ways to confront grief and each person deals with grief in a different way. Men, women and children do not and will never experience and express grief the same way. Although never truly resolved, grief must be expressed to reach a passage of healing. The transition for a man from grief to healing could be accomplished by performing physical tasks. On the other hand, a woman may talk with others and share her grief. A child will need encouragement from a parent or other adults close to them to identify and express his or her emotions. Men and children are less able to put into words what they are feeling during the grieving process. They are much more likely to put their feeling into action and deal with the grief physically rather than emotionally.
Typically, men do not feel comfortable expressing their grief verbally. It will help you to understand that men are goal oriented. They will commence activities or perform tasks to fulfill a sense of accomplishment. For example, men may build a memorial or write a eulogy for his loved one. Either task fulfills a sense of accomplishment and distracts his thoughts until he is ready to begin the transition back to reality and reach a passage to healing. Men tend to control their outward show of emotion. Even though men express little or no emotion he is still feeling a devastating sense of loss.
Women, on the other hand, easily express their grief emotionally. Endlessly remembering, talking and spending extended periods crying over their loss. Women find their place in the world through relationships so it will come as no surprise they become more active in organizations and groups after the loss of a loved one. Sharing, expressing and experiencing her grief socially will encourage a passage to healing after loss.
Children experience a spectrum of losses. They need to learn and be encouraged to experience their grief in ways that are familiar to them. Children often do well expressing their feelings of grief in playtime, art and music. During playtime children transcend into a fantasy world. At this time, acknowledge the child’s recognition or rejection of their loved one’s passing. Slowly the child will begin to translate the grief and healing into reality.
Whether we are men, women or children, the way we grieve is extraordinarily individual. Furthermore, there is no right way to grieve. Regardless of differences in individual grief, two components need to be established, support and encouragement from others. If you are grieving talk to people you can trust and who love you. Share your thoughts and emotions. No matter who you are, grief must be expressed before it can be resolved and before you can reach a passage to healing.
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