Burn Those Stress Away

Stress. These are just six letters that can mean the difference between two eight-letter words - survival and insanity. What a fine line the 6.6 billion people of this world walks on! But as we still see human beings ruling the planet we call Earth, we can safely surmise that humans have the most developed sense of coping with stress. Us and crocodiles, maybe. But that is another story.

One of the better ways to cope with stress is to burn it off and be gone with it. Before you get ideas about getting out your cigarette case, selecting a fine roll of cigarette, lighting it most suavely, and drawing upon it with deep breaths, this is not it. Smoking is but a temporary relief from the symptoms of stress and can do more harm than good to both your emotional and physical health. And what good does that do except feed on your stress?

Rather, you can burn off in other ways. Here is how.

#1 Burn Off Calories

You can exercise to burn off both calories and stress. Scientific studies have shown the beneficial effects of even moderate exercise on physical health, which can help in developing a well-balanced mental health.

When you exercise regularly, you produce less stress hormones and more happy hormones. Thus, you will feel less depressed, less anxious and less restless, all of which you will appreciate in stress management. And you will have a more fit and fabulous body, to boot!

#2 Burn Incense and Candles

And while you are at it, meditate! You need not meditate on spiritual things if you are so inclined. The important thing about meditation is its positive effects on stress reduction specifically in attaining an enhanced state of relaxation and concentration.

And the fact that meditation allows for control on blood pressure and heart rate is a welcome bonus. You will come out of meditation feeling more relaxed in both mind and body. Soon enough, you an meditate even without the scented incense and candles to set the mood, maybe even do a walking meditation like the Buddhist monks.

#3 Burn Your Thoughts

Not put your head on fire literally with those Zippo lighters of yours! Gee, that would be a very horrible sight indeed. Rather, you can write down all your negative thoughts on paper and burn them literally.

This can be a symbolic sort of goodbye much like how you burned all the personal mementos, even the littlest of personalized cufflinks, of that jerk whom you call your ex. Very cleansing, don’t you think?

So, the next time you feel like dragging on a smoke and burning your lungs to chase away the stress, why not opt for burning other things like calories, candles and crap?

Posted under Self Help

This post was written by conversation on November 20, 2008

Sundown Inspirations: How To Inspire Yourself At Night

Ever find your night life dreary? Are you tired with all the night outs and endless revelry? If you said yes, it’s time for change. Here are other activities you could cram your nights with. They don’t involve alcohol but they can be just as fun and addicting.

1. Smell the sweetest sweat. Have you ever smelled the sweetest sweat aroma? Of course it is not your boyfriend’s stench from th habit of using Zippo Lighter on cigars. I am spilling about the sweet and sour pungent smell of a baby’s underarm. Nothing inspires me better than a infant’s tang.

2. Listen to Earthworm Songs. On mid eve where its deaf silent, the eccentric tune of the earthworms is music to my ears. You can forget future dystopia and enjoy the once alien voices audible from underneath.

3. Feel the Silence. I may sound devoid of meaning like people who go crazy for a personalized zippo lighters. I can’t halt myself from being awed by the deafening stillness that twighlight brings. I find it inspiring and enlightening, its gives a novelty of hope for tomorrow.

4. Cuddle on Your Lover’s Embrace. Nothing compares to the evening encounter of a lover’s embrace. You can hug at daylight or under the afternoon shade, but its definitely worth it to cuddle at night under the moonlight.

5. Pay Attention to Baby Snore. Its sounds cute, adorable and endearing. This is the snore–sounding so pleasant.

6. Trace the raindrops on the window. There’s just something special about raindrops at evenings. Looks more gloomy and sad but lovely and comforting.

7. Slumber Sweetly. What are evenings for but to take refuge for a sleep. To doze off has never been so delightful to a hard day’s work.

8. Gaze on a lighted candle. Even military zippo lighters can not Not just a usual cylindrical wax, it displays intense emotions as romance and passion, hope and love.

9. Reach for the heavens. The dancing and twinkling patterns that I wish on when it falls. The bright circle that transforms in phases. All these gives me a sense of hapiness that one can’t get elsewhere.

Evenings connote the absence of light only. It does not keep us from drawing little meaningful things to inspire us everyday.

Posted under Self Help

This post was written by conversation on November 20, 2008

Trash Then, Rake Now

Do you let your girlfriend pick up the tab each time you go out? Are you one who dresses to impress? Does going out with only one woman at a time strike you as a terrible waste of your talents and charms? Do you mooch off girlfriends, friends, co-workers, and strangers alike? If so, you fit everyone’s definition of a scum. Change this impression by reinventing yourself from despicable lowlife to dashing freeloader. Remember, one man’s trash is another’s treasure. If this century, they call men like you white trash, six centuries ago they called you with a more glamorous name - rake.

Rake was derived from the old English term ‘rakehell’ and was coined because of the belief that one could only find such a dissolute person after combing through hell with a rake. In time, however, a rake came to be known as a high-born sophisticate who drinks liberally. Gentlemen wanted to become known as rakes because it gives them a slightly dangerous aura, a bit of a reputation that makes all the ladies curious and even sends some swooning.

The typical English rake, however, has many advantages that you lack. He has a noble title, you don’t. He has an Oxford education, you never went to college. He has a small fortune, you used to live with your mom; now you live with your girlfriend. Clearly, you do not have the privileges the regular English rake is born with. What’s a scoundrel like you to do? If you don’t have it, fake it. Fake a look that says you are to the manor born and bred. Rakes are fine dressers. What better way to look like the stylish gentleman than to sport engravable cufflinks? A cigarette case engraved with initials and a monogrammed lighter are good accessories, too. They will mark you as a man who can afford to have his things personalized according to his liking. Finish this stylish ensemble with engravable flasks - just be sure to choose the most expensive-looking hip flask from all those engravable flasks you got as personalized groomsmen gifts.

Now that you look the part, are you good to go? Not just yet. There is one other thing you need to do - cultivate an accent. If you can’t pull off an English accent, then settle for one that sounds exotic. This will up your presumed IQ a bit because everyone will think you are born elsewhere, are well-traveled, and speak English because it’s one of the six other languages your aristocratic father insisted you learn. Now you are ready. Go, leave your poor girlfriend’s paycheck alone, and live off the rich instead. Yes, you are a rotter. Yes, you are a scumbag. Go and rake on!

Posted under Self Help

This post was written by conversation on November 20, 2008

Adult Nail Biting Facts

First, some facts from the experts:

“It has been documented that some people bite their nails in their sleep, sometimes exclusively. This has been linked to stress while dreaming or stress from the dream or simply stress in general. It is considered the most widespread form of mild self mutilation,” according to Wikipedia.

“Where a nail has been bitten too far in, bleeding might occur at the grooves or cuticles. More extremely the constant wetting of the finger can lead to yeast infection of the nail and oral herpes can actually begin to grow on the finger. Ridging, nail deformity and even nail loss can happen. Bacterial infections can lead to severe dental problems such as gingivitis,” said Onychophagia.com.

So you bite your nails often? Do you find it impossible to stop?

Hey, welcome to the club. Nail biting is mostly among children although adults are not excluded from this nervous habit. Famous nail biters are everywhere, & include Tom Cruise, Bruce Springsteen, Lisa Marie Presley, and George W Bush to name a few.

This irritating habit is more common in boys than girls, and can be seen during periods of nervousness, stress, hunger, boredom or lack of activities. In some cases, it can be a sign of a mental or emotional disorder.

One day I was looking at my nails. No big deal, I have been biting my nails for over 40 years. Did I know why I bite my nails? No, not right away, but I realized I needed to stop biting them. I knew that I would be meeting important people and it would be rather embarrassing to shake hands with ragged nails. But here’s the dilemma…

If you have ever attempted to quit your nail biting, you know just how difficult it is. Perhaps you have put on gloves or bandages over your fingertips, or tried bitter-flavored nail polish. Maybe they were successful for a little while,but ultimately you found yourself with chewed-up nails and torn cuticles again.

The first step in stopping this habit is to identify what’s causing it and resolving whatever problems you have, & ultimately becoming conversant with ways to stop finger nail biting

That’s were programs that teach how to stop nail biting with hypnosis are so valuable. In the past these programs were out of reach of most people, & required a lengthy (& expensive) visit, or multiple visits to a licensed hypnotherapist, but nowadays they are within reach of everyone, due to the advent of & self hypnosis programs on DVD’s.

One simple Google search for ways to stop finger nail biting was all it took. The website convinced me & I mad a simple online purchase & haven’t regretted a penny of it since.

All I can tell you is it worked for me. 40 years of embarrassing & ugly chewed on fingernails & one little purchase of a self hypnosis program (that I did entirely from my home & entirely at my own pace), & I never even think about biting my nails at all now. There’s lot’s of options for nail biting treatments out there, but the best one is with the help of hypnosis.

Posted under Self Help

This post was written by conversation on November 4, 2008

Personal Development Tips: A - Z

Here are some personal development tips to help anyone achieve their goals in life.

ACCOUNTABILITY
Be responsible and accountable. There is nothing to gain from pointing the finger or blaming others.

BUILDING POSITIVE HABITS
Lay a foundation brick by brick, in no time you will have a great wall to protect from the negativity and negative habits that are so prevalent in the world today.

CONSCIOUSNESS
Become aware of everything. Be aware when negative thoughts cross your mind. Be aware of the people you associate with. Be aware of how you think and live your life everyday.

DRIVE
Don’t give up. Be relentless, if something falls short of expectations, take a step back, reassess, make the necessary corrections and try again, then again, and again if needed. It has been said that Thomas Edison made 1000 attempts before inventing the light bulb. Make no mistakes persistence will pay off.

EFFICIENCY
Becoming efficient and organized is the foundation of personal development. Strive to accomplish more in less time.

FINISH
Completion of tasks or projects is crucial to personal development and success. Once something gets started, make sure it gets finished.

GOALS, GOALS, GOALS
Setting and achieving goals provides the empowerment to achieve anything in life. The world’s greatest leaders are master goal setters. Knowing where they want to go with a plan in place is the reason for their successes.

HAPPINESS
Life is full of bumps in the roads. Rather than dwelling on the negatives, take these little bumps and be happy that life has given a new challenge. Find a positive solution. Remember the song “Don’t worry, Be happy”.

INDIVIDUALISM
Be the unique individual you are. There is no law that states in order to become a better or more successful individual requires you to change who you truly are.

JOY
Find the joy in everything. Life is too short to dwell on negatives.

KNOWLEDGE
Learn something new everyday. Talk to others, read books, research on the internet, find a mentor, or listen to motivational tapes or cds. The Tony Robbins, Brian Tracys and Zig Ziglars of the world became the leaders they are through their knowledge.

LEADERSHIP
Lead by example, be the model for others to emulate. Be knowledgeable, fair, consistent and approachable. Become a coach or mentor to someone. Strive for excellence.

MOTIVATION
Get excited about improving life. Be a visionary and achiever.

NEGATIVITY
Plain and simple, get rid of it, flush it down the toilet. Negativity is like poison and it is more contagious than catching a cold.If you associate with negative people it is imperative to get rid of them also. Visit us at professional speaker

OPEN MINDED
Keeping an open mind is crucial to success. Limiting thoughts and actions will hinder growth and more than likely bring everything to a grinding halt. Keep the eyes and ears open, the opportunity to grow is more often than not right in front of you.

PROGRESS
Move forward, eliminate procrastination and get things done.

QUOTES
A great motivator is to read quotes from well known writers, leaders in business and motivational speakers.

RATIONALIZATION
Use common sense, take the time to think things out before making decisions or taking action.

SIMPLE
Follow the KISS principle. Keep It Super Simple. If there is no need to complicate something, don’t.

TAKE CONTROL
Take responsibility for your life. Set goals, make plans,stay focused, and take action.

UNSTOPPABLE
Those who achieve their goals and dreams in life possess an unstoppable attitude. Their attitude can be compared to a F-5 tornado. These people believe that there is nothing that can get in the way of their success, if something tries, they will blow right through it.

VISION
Dream, envision, prioritize what is most important, and set out to accomplish it. At the end of your life don’t let yourself regret not doing the things you truly wanted to do. Envision it, Live it. Visit us at Life Coach

WRITE IT DOWN
Put your goals down on paper, post reminders around your home and workplace to keep you focused on them. Keep a journal of your life, document your accomplishments as well as your failures, it’s a great way to track your life.

XPERT
Become an expert at what you love, learn everything about it. Knowledge and passion leads to wealth.

YEARN
Without a need there is nothing to yearn for. Whether there is a need to spend more time with the family, make more money or get that promotion at work. Yearn for it, want it, crave it, then get a plan in motion to get it.

ZOOM
Get into the race car of life, buckle up, shift it into overdrive, put the pedal to the metal and zoom your way to the top.

See you there. Visit us at professional speaker

Posted under Self Help

This post was written by conversation on October 23, 2008

How To Promote Your Business By Speaking In Public

As an entrepreneur, public speaking has to be one of the most effective ways of marketing yourself. There are countless opportunities out there for you to get yourself in front of your target market. There is no better way to have a captive audience full of prospects. It is the fastest way of establishing yourself as an expert.

You don’t have to be a professional speaker to speak in public. Just doing a reasonable job is better than not doing anything at all.

Prospects are much more likely to engage your services if they’ve seen you speak. Let’s look at the following example. Say you were looking for an accountant. Would you be more inclined to trust someone you had found in the Yellow Pages, or someone you had heard speak knowledgeably at the local Chamber of Commerce?

Look into opportunities in your local area where you can offer to speak for free. Professional associations, networking groups, Chambers of Commerce, educational bodies and Rotary Clubs are all potential public speaking venues. They often look out for speakers for their events, meetings and workshops. Visit Speaker for more information

Also research the audience that is going to be at your talk. For example, what industries are they likely to represent? Are they from large or small companies? What would interest them? What angle should your presentation take?

When it comes to finalizing your speech topic, be sure to make it sound enticing and interesting. People often decide whether to attend a talk based on just the title so put some serious thought into this.

Practice is key to coming across in a professional manner and reducing nerves. Write your speech out in full, but never read it verbatim. Have an outline prepared and available for you to refer to.

Check with the event organizer how long you have for your talk. Include timing in your practice runs. There is nothing worse than having a speaker run over time.

Get the most mileage out of your presentation by having some promotional material at the back of the room, for example some business cards, flyers or brochures that people can take with them if they wish. Visit Keynote for more information

You can be even more proactive and set up a newsletter before starting to give speeches. At the end of your presentation you can encourage your audience to sign up for your newsletter in exchange for a promotional gift or free e-book. That way you have also added valuable contacts to your database.

Many entrepreneurs swear by public speaking as a way of building and maintaining a steady stream of clients for their businesses.
Visit Keynote Speaker for more information

Posted under Self Help

This post was written by conversation on October 22, 2008

Speak Out In Public

During a job interview, a potential employer asks, “Can you take on more than one project at a time?” If you respond, “Yes,” you may want to rethink that answer. According to Dynamic Listening: Interview Skills, a computer based training module from Mindleaders in Columbus, Ohio, you should avoid one-word or one-sentence answers.

Be specific. And speak money-language. Here’s a preferred answer to the question above, “In general, depending upon the type and length of projects, I believe in efficiently handling more than one project at a time. This could save a company as much as 30%.”
Let’s check out the definition of “active listening skills” and learn more to help with your next interview…

Active Listening Skills

Just as everyday “speaking” is not the same as public speaking; “listening” is not the same as active listening. Active listening means two things: analysis and response to the message being communicated.

An active listener maintains eye contact and good posture with a slight lean towards the speaker. During the interview, the listener nods, smiles and takes notes. Be ware, however, that a daydreamer or pseudolistener, can adopt these behaviors. So a listener’s physical response does not necessarily mean good listening skills are at work. Visit professional speaker

Nonverbal communication, more than just the nod or smile, is important. Gestures, appearance, timing, voice responses, facial expressions, spatial distance – all affect how the speaker (or interview) interprets the listener. So a person preparing for a job or work project interview should consider the cultural climate and norms of society of the interviewer. In short, perceived active listening based on nonverbal signals can vary from culture to culture.

Especially in this age of such great cultural diversity, be courteous of others regardless of cultural, sexual or societal backgrounds. If you are a woman and get to a door before a man, open it. If your interviewer doesn’t speak English very well and looks puzzled at your words, go back and explain yourself again in different words and re-establish a good communication exchange. Visit Author

Note: a major part of active listening is paraphrasing. It’s not the same as summarizing. A summary is a shortened version of the original message, focusing on the main point. To paraphrase means to re-state the message in your own words.

Active listeners take notes by paraphrasing or restating what the speaker said in their own words, and summarizing main points. A good listener is not the same thing as a silent listener. Good listeners ask questions, even something like, “Is this an accurate paraphrase of you have said?” to let the speaker know that you understand the message being communicated. Visit Life Coach

Posted under Self Help

This post was written by conversation on October 22, 2008

7 Techniques To Motivate Your Team Members

You can motivate your team members externally or internally. External motivation relates to the working environment. However, internal motivation relates the interests, aptitudes and dreams of your team members. Here you shall find seven critical motivational techniques to get the best out of your subordinates.

1- Reward and Punishment

It is the most popular technique being used by the managers. It mobilizes motivational energies in the team players. The reward can be in the form of special promotions, raises or words. However, excessive use of this tool may create jealousy amongst your subordinates to disturb the working environment.

Fear of punishment also plays an important role. You need to be careful here too. A wrong punishment at a wrong time may backfire. Just create a balance. Visit a Motivational Speaker

2- Setting of Goals

Setting of well-defined goals helps your team members to do their best. Set meaningful and justified deadlines to get the project finished within time. You need to work at two levels. First, set your objective. Second, divide that objective into goals and sub-goals.

3- Advisory Techniques

No one is perfect. Being a team leader you must always be ready to offer advice when your team members face some stumbling block in their performance. Encourage them to remove their weaknesses and continue what works for them.

4- Praise and Criticism

This motivational technique is similar to ‘reward and punishment’ technique. A word of praise or criticism shall have definite results upon your subordinates. However, like rewards and punishments, this technique should also be used carefully. Sometimes your team members will do better with criticism and other times they will stop working. Visit a Motivational Speaker

5- Success and Failure

To motivate your team members, you should analyze their successes in open and failures in your office. Most of the people like to continue doing what is working for them. Don’t try to change their style unless you find them failing to achieve what you desire of them.

6- Competition

It is the strongest motivational technique to get the best out of your subordinates. You can use this technique very effectively when combine with setting of efficient goals. Competitive circumstances shall help your team members to perform the best.

7- Interests of Team Members

Do you know what interests your subordinates? Just find out those interests and entrust them with tasks that they love to do. It will increase their efficiency on one hand and speed of the project on the other. Random allocation of tasks may not be too helpful to all of them. Visit a Motivational Speaker

Posted under Self Help

This post was written by conversation on October 22, 2008

How to Use Gratitude

Gratitude and the Law of Attraction work to create abundance in your life, even when you do not know how this principle works. Knowing how this principle works is to be using the Law of Attraction to actively create a life that is truly prosperous and in harmony with the universe. Gratitude or appreciation of what we already have is necessary to attract things we want.

Learn More about the Law of Attraction

The Law of Attraction is not just a metaphysical idea; it is also a theory that has been proven to work. Science has discovered through quantum physics that there is a very real law of nature, bringing back to use what we think about.

Every day when you wake up try to be thankful. Think about the good things in your live you should be thankful for.
Appreciate your job (even if you don’t like it). Feel gratitude for a place to live. If you have some food, some friends or anything else you can find to appreciate, appreciate it. A lot of people don’t have enough even basic things like food, water and their own place to live. It’s natural that you want more, that you want to improve your standard of life, but first you need to feel gratitude for what you already have.

We create our lives through our thoughts and feelings being answered. What we send out is returned back to us in kind. This is the science of manifestation at work.

People that live out their lives experiencing poverty and scarcity usually will broadcast these needy expressions in negative ways. Like attracts like, therefore, the universal consciousness that we are all a part of sends back to us more of the same. Just as positive affirmations and states of mind return to us the same. This helps to answer why some of us believe that our glass is half empty, and others experience their glass as half full.

Law of Attraction and Gratitude Resources

If you start your day with feelings of gratitude you will feel good and you can keep that feeling all day.

But you should also write down something like this: “I am so happy and grateful that…” and then write what you would like to have. For example: “I am very happy and grateful that I make $1 million per year; that I have wonderful and loving wife…etc.” Use the present tense, visualize the things you want, be grateful for them, and think about them as already yours. When you achieve them, you can add new things to your list. When you write about money, start first with amount you believe is possible and then increase the amount when you got the amount you’d written down. Be specific.

When you start doing as described above, at first you might feel strange that you are using present tense for the things you want to have in the future, but it’s important to train your mind and force your mind to think about them in present tense. After some time of playing such “mental ping pong” your mind will obey and will help you to achieve the things you want.

It is important to be consistent with expressing gratitude. Expressing the gratitude writing every day in a notebook is very helpful.

Learn More about the Law of Attraction

Posted under Self Help

This post was written by conversation on October 6, 2008

Your Chance to Discover How to be Happy

Life does not always give you want. And because of the lack of manifestations of their desires, many people felt empty and unhappy about life. Thus, if you want to stay happy in life, there is one thing you need to know and accomplish with ease, to love and appreciate yourself.

If you look carefully in life, it is not the lack of those materialistic things in your life that makes it miserable.

Indulging in materialistic items may seem as one of the ways to stay happy. However, you know that happiness obtained from those items is only temporary.

True and genuine happiness arises from you working inside out, not outside in. Being happy is an inner feeling and it does make sense to work out the issue from the place called ’self’.

Unhappiness usually stem out of your lack of self esteem and self appreciation. At home, your parents have taught you to appreciate others and be grateful to people who assisted you along the way. You are taught to say “Thank you” to others, present gift to others as a token of appreciation etc.

However, have you been taught how to appreciate yourself? How to acknowledge your own success and give praises to you? Do you love yourself for who you are?

To love is to accept. More often than not, we tend to choose what we want to accept about ourselves:
Talents
Strengths
Ability…

However, that is not love. Ask any parents or a couple deeply in love, they will tell you that they will accept their children or their spouse as who they are.

Others like you for your strengths, well your loved ones love you for your weakness.

To choose to only accept your strengths is definitely not one of the many ways to stay happy. No one can seek to be perfect in this world.

And because of lack of self love and self appreciation, it resulted in you having to seek affirmations from others by indulging yourself in the role of the victim where you will do things to:
Gain other people’s attention
Gain others’ sympathy
To affirm yourself that you are not capable or lovable…

The truth is your improvement will be much faster and greater when you focus on your successes, your wins and the things you do right rather than overly concerning yourself with your past mistakes.

Thus if you want to stay happy, stay in love with yourself!

Invest 15-30 minutes every night and review the successes you accomplish in the day. I call it the “Appreciate Self Game”.

And like all other games, this game also has its own set of rules:
Write out at least 10 accomplishments for the day
Do not repeat the accomplishments from the previous days. By not repeating your accomplishments, it forces you to be more aware of your different successes and winnings in the day.

Self appreciation and self love is not something you want to eliminate from your life.

Learn more about emotional freedom technique training.

Posted under Self Help

This post was written by conversation on October 1, 2008