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Its okay, you can finally admit it has been two months since you have done any serious exercise. But you have lots of good valid reasons for this. Getting sick, family issues and overtime at work are some of the things that got in the way of you exercising.

But you are not the only one as even people who consistently stick to an exercise program can sometimes fall out of the fitness habit from time to time. It can be challenging to get back on track again and you need to find a way to rebuild and form a new strong desire to get started on your exercise again.

Here are 7 ways to give yourself the mental kick in the pants that you need to stop dragging your feet, get up off the couch, and get back into the habit again.

1) Firstly don’t break your precious habit – The easiest way to keep the habit going is simply not to stop for any reason. Avoiding long breaks in exercising or rebuilding your exercise habit will take some effort and this advice may be a little too late for some people. But if you have an exercise habit going strong, don’t drop it at the first sign of trouble as it is so much easier to stay fit than to actually get fit.

2) Focus your time and energy on just this one goal – If you have lots of other stuff going on, it is hard to focus on one important thing. Just work on one goal at a time giving it a little extra attention till it fits back into your life.

3) Start off small – We all have a tendency to try and do too much at first, especially if we are used to a certain level from our old exercise program. But when you are re-beginning it is best to hold back and just do a little, and then progress slowly back up to your old level. Once you are back in the habit and it is comfortable, you can increase your workload.

4) Do it for just one month to start –You can get started today as you do not need to start at the beginning of a month. Make a goal of 30 days and commit to that, and once you are past that, it will get much easier to simply keep going. You will be feeling so great why would you want to stop there?

5) Put an X on your calendar – Draw a red “X” through any day on the calendar that you go to the gym or do your exercise program. Keeping a steady amount of X’s on your calendar reinforces your success and is an easy way to motivate yourself.

6) Create a preparation ritual – Your workout routine should become so ingrained that it becomes a consistent ritual. This means that the time of day, place or cue automatically starts you towards getting ready, grabbing your bag and heading out. If you are able to do it at the same time every day and it will become a stronger habit. If your workout times are completely random, it will be harder to benefit from the momentum and strength of a routine.

7) Try and learn from your mistakes – There was a reason you stopped your exercise program and it may well happen again. If you can indentify what it was that de-railed you, you can plan to beat it next time. If you don’t do this it will surely happen again.

Following these seven simple guidelines will help you to become a regular, consistent, self motivated exerciser living a long, healthy and productive lifestyle.

Do you want to discover the secret to rejuvenating your body and improving the quality of your life? Download my free ebook “I’ve Found the Fountain of Youth- Let Me Show You Too!” here: Health Related Fitness For Free Fitness Report here Fitness Weight Loss Carolyn Hansen is a certified fitness expert and fitness center owner who coaches clients to look and feel younger.

Article Source: 7 Top Tips to Get You and Your Exercise Program Restarted

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Studies have shown that ‘exercise deficiency syndrome’ is the biggest health risk we face once we get past 30 years and as the years start to accumulate. Thanks to modern technology and mechanization most of us can totally avoid any physical ‘work’ in the course of our day. Nothing we do any more requires any real effort as we sit most of the day at our work and sit in the evenings maintaining our addiction to television.

We are slowly becoming aware of the negative impact this is having on our health. Even children being born today are predicted to have a 20-30 year shortened lifespan. One of the main reasons for this is there is simply not enough vigorous physical activity left in our lives for a human being to remain healthy.

Most of us probably view any sort of exercise as ‘work’, which is probably the biggest reason we likely avoid it. Well, you are correct, exercise is ‘work’ and is the hard labor that our ancestors were required to do to stay alive. We not longer need to work to stay alive but we do still need this work to remain healthy whether we like it or not.

We are now aware of how much better our bodies function and how much longer they last when we get regular muscle building and maintaining exercise. Whether you choose to believe, accept and act on that reality or not will affect both the short term quality of your life and the longer term length of your life.

The symptoms of the ‘disuse’ are everywhere, overweight, obesity, lack of endurance, muscle weakness, stiffness and soreness, low back pain, low breathing capacity, intolerance to stress, increased blood fat levels, elevated resting heart rate and blood pressure, depression and the list goes on and on.

An exercise program is so vital to our wellness that not only does it make us feel so much better and happier, more alert and productive it also helps to prevent disease especially the ‘big three’ heart disease, cancer and diabetes that are epidemic in our modern world.

Vigorous physical activity on a regular basis is needed in order to prevent our bodies slowly sliding down the slippery slope of deterioration. A proper exercise program is not an optional luxury, but a necessity if you wish to remain healthy and well.

It seems pointless to work hard all of your life then risk your life being cut short prematurely before you even have a chance to get to know your grandchildren that’s if you even get to meet them. Imagine with just a bit of effort on your part a couple of times a week you could protect both your working life and your retirement years. The last third of your life could be just as enjoyable and productive as the first two thirds.

To receive the very best and quickest benefits from your exercise program it is important that it is set up properly by a fitness professional. The program needs to be mainly strength training exercise which will give you the ‘most bang for your buck’ in the way of results.

Forget long, slow, steady state recreational activities like walking, jogging or cycling. These things are great as part of an active lifestyle but can never ever replace a proper program of muscle building and maintaining exercise. This is the only type of exercise that will maintain our functional body units and to also keep a reserve physical capacity to handle emergency situations.

We actually have far more control over the rate and extent of the aging process than we previously thought. We don’t have to sit and watch our life go by; we can take an active role in maintaining our wellness. Regular vigorous exercise is a very logical, cost effective way of reducing the risk of every chronic disease known to man.

Do you want to discover the secret to rejuvenating your body and improving the quality of your life? Download my free ebook “I’ve Found the Fountain of Youth- Let Me Show You Too!” here: Physical Wellness For Free Fitness Report here Fitness Weight Loss Carolyn Hansen is a certified fitness expert and fitness center owner who coaches clients to look and feel younger.

Article Source: How Much Do You Value Your Health?

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If you are suffering from sunburn, but do not want to go to the doctor, there are several home remedies that you can use to treat your condition. In many cases, these home remedies can provide you with better treatment than anything that you would get from your doctor.

It is obvious that people who visit beaches often also get sunburns very frequently. People who sunbathe and deliberately work on getting a tan on their skins have a high risk of sunburn. Wearing clothing minimizes the chances of getting sunburns. Hence it is found that people who put on swimwear get sunburns only on the exposed parts of their skins.

Though most sunburns are mild problems that correct themselves in a few days, constantly getting your skin sunburned can increase the chances of skin cancer. Therefore, it is not good to expose your skin to the sun more than it is necessary.
The home remedies for sunburn are not only helpful in treating the sunburn, but also in avoiding it to quite an extent. The best way to protect oneself from sunburn is intake of lot of fluids in order to prevent dehydration, and also replace the loss of water due to sunburn.

In order to avoid the brunt of sunburn, one should eat high-content protein foods and raw fruits to fulfill the appropriate need of body for vitamins and minerals. Coconut oil and sandalwood oil are very effective in healing the burnt skin due to their cooling properties. Application of coconut or neem oil on the body, before and after taking bath is considered as a useful remedy for sunburn.

If you have a bottle of pure lavender oil, you could add 15 drops of it to your bath water before you get in.

Milk is an excellent home remedy for sunburn. Reminds me of a story I was reading in an Archie or Jughead comic book years ago. Archie got sunburnt and Jughead slathered ice cream all over his back to soothe the burn. Milky vanilla ice cream sounds like a great treat for sunburns but I’d rather eat ice cream than smear it all over myself. I haven’t tried it but might do so if I get desperate.

If you have an all-over burn, a specially prepared bath may help you a lot. Start with lukewarm water and add a mixture of one cup of milk, two cups of raw, uncooked oatmeal and one tablespoon of honey. Soaking for about 10 minutes will soothe the skin and replace some of the lost natural moisture.

Another useful bath for sunburn relief is baking soda – about two cups. Baking soda or oatmeal baths are also good natural skin care remedies for dry skin, acne, eczema and just about any other skin problem.

Potatoes can also be used to relieve the pain of sunburn. Take 2 potatoes and wash them well. Cut them into tiny chunks and place in a blender to liquefy. (If the result appears too dry, add some water). Pat the affected areas with potato juice. Wait until dry, and then rinse off in a cool shower or bath.

Remember that as well as causing varying degrees of discomfort and pain, repeated sun exposure and sunburn also accelerates the aging process and can increase the risk of cataracts and skin cancer. Prevention therefore should also always be considered more preferable than treatment!

Read About Home Remedies Also Read About Home Remedies for Sunburn and Natural Remedies for Sunburn

Article Source: Home Remedies For Sunburn

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If you are overweight and are sick and tired of carrying around excess bulk day after day there are some changes that you could make that would melt off that useless fat. If you implement these strategies you will find that over time the fat will disappear and your lean, firm muscles that are buried underneath will begin to reveal themselves.

Here are four hot tips that will shift stubborn body fat for good:

1) You must strength train – This type of exercise is the number one tool for your fat loss success. Not only does it burn calories during the sessions it increases your metabolism (your body’s engine) 24/7. Unlike cardio type activities like walking, jogging or cycling that only burn calories while you are doing the activity strength training has a much more beneficial effect for a much longer period of time.

The more you can build and tone your muscle tissue the more calories you will burn permanently. This is the mechanism that will get rid of that excess body fat and keep it off for good.

Even if your goal is solely to lose body fat you need to strength train. This will help prevent any loss of muscle tissue when calories are reduced. If this should happen you will slow your metabolism, stall your fat loss efforts and turn yourself into a skinny fat person.

2) Include interval training – This involves short bursts of intense activity followed by recovery periods. This will make the overall length of your workout much shorter in duration than typical aerobic sessions but you will receive three times the results.

An example of this would be to briefly warm up then do 10-20 seconds of sprinting followed by walking for thirty seconds to one minute. You could also jump rope as fast as you can for the same time period followed by slow rope jumping.

Repeat this sequence 8-12 times starting with once a week and increasing it to twice a week as you become more conditioned. Try and work harder each time in the short bursts rather than longer. But be warned, these sessions are brutal but the results will astound you.

3) Reduce your calories gradually – The very bottom level of calories that you should ever eat is 2100 for men and 1800 for women. If you go below these levels you will set off your body’s ‘starvation mode’ reducing your metabolism and making it near impossible to burn off body fat.

Instead, you should reduce your calories slowly, making small reductions every week or two in order to prevent this metabolic slowdown and allow your body to burn fat for energy at an optimal rate.

4) Eat 5 or 6 smaller meals per day – This will ensure that you supply your body with the nutrients necessary to create enough energy to support your exercise program. It will also increase your metabolic rate for even greater calorie burning. If you go too long between meals you can trigger the ‘starvation mode’ slowing down your metabolism which is the exact opposite of what you need to be doing.

Don’t waste your time looking for quick fixes. These are the most basic strategies that you need to master to ever have any success with losing that body fat. Get your exercise program right followed by your eating and you will have the perfect tools to get you in your best shape ever.

Do you want to discover the secret to rejuvenating your body and improving the quality of your life? Download my free ebook “I’ve Found the Fountain of Youth- Let Me Show You Too!” here: Fountain of Youth For Free Fitness Report here Fitness Weight Loss Carolyn Hansen is a certified fitness expert and fitness center owner who coaches clients to look and feel younger.

Article Source: 4 Hot Strategies to Lose Weight

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Cavities can best be described as tooth decay. As we all know, tooth decay is influenced by what we eat, how we take care of our teeth, and the amount of fluoride in our toothpastes. If your family has a history of tooth disease or teeth problems, then you may inherit it that way. This is very common, as many people inherit tooth problems that have been passed down from generation to generation.

Adults who suffer from a dry mouth are more at risk for cavities, as they have a lack of saliva in their mouth. Dry mouth is very common, and is normally the result of medications, illness, and radiation treatment. Tobacco users will also suffer from dry mouth, as the tobacco will use up the saliva in the mouth and leave the user with nothing to keep his or her mouth moist.

Cavities are a very serious situation, and if left untreated, can result in the destruction of the tooth. This can also destroy the nerves as well, resulting in an abscess. An abscess is very serious, as it infects the root tip. If left untreated, an abscess can result in death. Although you may not realize it, cavities are a very serious matter that can quickly spread to something even more serious.

If you visit your dentist on a regular basis, he will check for cavities. Without visiting the dentist, it is impossible to tell whether or not you have a cavity. Most cavities develop below the gums, and you won’t be able to see them. If the cavity exists in the tooth, you will be able to see it, as it will change the color of the affected area. If you notice a color change or a blackened area in your tooth, you should make an appointment with your dentist immediately.

What you eat is a big contributor to cavities. If you eat a lot of sweets or drink a lot of soda, you will be at a higher risk for cavities. Foods that are rich in sugar or starch are eaten by bacteria found in plaque, which will produce acids that eat through teeth. This acid is very harmful to teeth, as it can eat through the dentin and enamel in no time at all. If you don’t do something about it, the acid will continue to eat at the tooth until there is nothing left to say – leaving you no choice but to get the tooth extracted.

Over time, the tooth enamel will start to break down beneath the surface of your tooth, even though the surface will appear to be fine. Once the acid has managed to eat away enough of the enamel below the surface, the surface will collapse, which results in a cavity. After this has happened, if you don’t get it treated, the tooth will continue to be eaten and the cavity will continue to spread until all of the tooth has been eaten, after which the enamel will be gone and your root will be exposed – which can be very painful.

Cavities will more than likely develop in the pits of chewing areas around the back teeth, between your teeth, or near the gum line. No matter where they occur, the easiest way to spot them is to visit your dentist. Your dentist will be able to do x-rays and find out just how bad they are and tell you what options you have. If you visit him in time, he will be able to save the tooth and stop the cavity before it spreads throughout your tooth.

Interested in nutrition in fruits? Visit the Fruit Nutrition website. For detailed information on popular volcanoes, go to the Famous Volcanoes website. Stop by the Foods High In Iron website for details on high iron foods.

Article Source: An Overview of Cavities

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Fillings are very common with dental work, as they present a way to repair a tooth that has suffered from decay or a cavity back to it’s original shape. When performing a filling, the dentist will remove the decayed area of the tooth, clean around it, then fill in the area that he has removed with a special material that will cater to the shape and form of the tooth.

Fillings work by closing out the area where the bacteria enters into teeth, helping to prevent any type of decay in the future. The materials used for fillings include porcelain, gold, composite resin, and amalgam. There is really no best type of filling, as several factors come into play. Your reaction to different material, the shape of the tooth, extent of repair, and where the filling is needed will be determining factors as to what material is used with your filling.

The gold fillings that are used are made in a laboratory, then cemented into place by the dentist. Gold material fits well with the gums, and can last you for many years. Gold is considered by many to be the best, although it is also the most expensive and will require you to visit the dentist several times before the filling will be complete.

Silver fillings on the other hand, are less expensive than gold materials and they can be quite resistant to wear. With their color being dark, they are easier to notice than composite or porcelain fillings, and aren’t recommended for visible areas of the mouth, especially the front teeth. Composite fillings are a common type of material, as they match the color of your teeth. The material that makes up the composite filling is mixed then placed directly in the cavity, where it hardens. They last several years, although composite isn’t recommended for large cavities, or areas where they may chip.

The final type of filling is porcelain. Porcelain is very common, and produced in lab where it will be matched to your teeth then bonded to the affected tooth. Porcelain fillings match the color of your teeth, and are resistant to any type of staining. The costs for porcelain fillings can be very expensive, some costing as much as gold fillings.

If a cavity, decay, or even a crack has managed to damage a large area of the tooth, you may need a crown or a cap. If the decay has managed to get to the nerve, you may end up needing a root canal to get rid of the dead pulp. When the dentist decides he can fill your tooth, he will remove the cavity then fill the hole with a material listed above. Depending on your insurance and what you can afford, you can choose which one you want or take his recommendation. In most cases, porcelain or composite fillings will be recommended. Gold fillings are popular, although most people want a filling that will match the natural color of their teeth.

Keep in mind that only a dentist can make the decision regarding fillings. When you visit for your routine checkup, the dentist will look in your mouth and use instruments that will let him examine the surfaces of your teeth. If he finds any cavities, he will usually recommend a filling. You won’t feel anything, as he will numb the area he is going to be filling. It normally takes less than an hour, and you’ll be up and at ‘em before you know it. A filling is great for cavities, as most look natural and they won’t result in the loss of your tooth.

Everything on nutrition in fruits can be found at the Fruit Nutrition website. Visit the Famous Volcanoes website to find information on popular volcanoes. Drop by the Foods High In Iron website to read about high iron foods.

Article Source: The Facts About Fillings

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Many companies are now facing and executing significant layoffs. Not only does this cause havoc for the ones ‘laid-off’, it also creates an enormous burden on the ones left behind.

With increased responsibilities being placed on workers, stress becomes even more of a problem.

Added to that are the on-going responsibilites at home — tighter squeeze on the home pocket book, greater stress being felt by everyone, people are looking for a way out. Sometimes an escape is what is needed. Other times, that might not be a possibility.

How to deal with this?

We at Fun-Wey have put together a list of 10 ways to balance all the things you do that fall into the category of work/responsibility with all the things that are ‘fun’ — the things we call PLAY.

Take a look below:

1. First of all, sit down as a family and look at the distribution of work-load. Is everyone doing their fair share? Has one person’s load increased far more than the others’? If so, can you spread it out more evenly? While doing this consider not just work obligations, but also think about each person’s other ‘out-of-the-home’ involvements, such as choir, coaching soccer, volunteering at the food bank, etc. Remember to honestly look at the energy that these things require, and weigh that against the energy that needs to go to everything else.

We recommend doing this on an annual basis, but when something major changes in your family life, it is extremely important to do so.

2. Next, talk about the kinds of things that you’re doing as a family that are fun. Do you go swimming at the local rec centre weekly? Does the family honour the Friday night ‘pizza and a movie’ tradition? Do you have guests for dinner on a regular basis? Are there annual vacations? As a unit, the family needs to consider the importance of those stress relieving activities and make sure that enough of them are in place.

3. Of course, both of the above conversations will involve talking about money — is there enough for this year’s treck to Disneyland, or the kids’ annual camp week? Do Mom and Dad still have a date night at least once a month? What kinds of activities can you do as individuals, as a couple and as a family that don’t put a squeeze on the wallet, but still intrigue and excite you?

4. Get the entire family involved in planning a monthly event that is FREE — this could be going for a walk on the SeaWall (if you live near water), sharing dinner as a picnic on the living room floor complete with blankets, kool-aid, and sandwiches, or having a night of board games or cards. These kind of events — by their very nature — take your mind off everything else, and provide you with a couple of hours of stress-free time.

5. If your new responsibilities at work necessitate overtime, sit down with a financial planner to see if the extra hours actually result in any substantial increase in your income. Often the additional income puts you into a new tax-bracket and the larger portion of your added income goes out in deductions. Too, sometimes longer hours result in added costs — more meals out, higher child care costs; when that happens, you are not further ahead and should decline the extra hours (if that is an option.)

6. Find ways to cut costs at home — this can be a really fun activity! Once again, we recommend getting the whole family involved. Kids can take on part-time jobs like mowing the neighbour’s lawn or raking leaves or shovelling snow. After school child care might be shared with a friend or neighbour. Teach your kids to turn off lights, tv’s and other appliances that are not in use — save on your monthly bill. Maybe you are paying too much in telephone, internet costs, or cable costs. Sometimes your provider will bundle these services in cost-saving plan that might leave a few extra dollars in your pocket.

Then, as a family, see how much your total savings add up and decide how to spend them — get a new, more energy efficient refrigerator, a more fuel-efficient car, or start using public transportation. There may be enough savings to enable your entire family to plan a great vacation together.

7. Make sure that you are doing something stress-less EACH DAY! Just like prayer or meditation, a time for fun is a daily must. Perhaps you go for a quiet solitary walk on your lunch, or head to the library for an interesting talk. Perhaps you do something different at the end of the day — go for a swim, head out for a ‘pole-dancing’ class or stroll through a local garden centre for inspiration. Whatever it is, that break will do wonders for your breathing, your stress levels, and your state of mind. Set an example for your family and encourage all of them to do the same.

8. Take time to give. I know, it sometimes seems like all you do is ‘give’, but look at giving in a different way. One of the things we decided to do this year was become involved in a local ‘feed the unsheltered homeless’ program. Once a month the adults in our family, along with the older children donate a few hours on a Saturday to provide meals for this unfortunate group. It completely changes your perspective. And helps the kids realize how good they actually have it. It makes a warm cozy bed seem like a luxury, and a hot shower something to really appreciate. And it helps you prioritize those things that are important to your family, as a family.

9. Honour the ‘joker’ in the family. Every family seems to have one — you know the member I mean. In our family we have more than one. They are always saying or doing the most ridiculous things. The more serious members get their knickers in a knot and start huffing and chuffing. It’s so beneficial to the entire family when we can actually laugh at the silliness. We once worked with a lady who did all kinds of silly things — tied balloons to her glasses and walked around the office just to hear the snickers and giggles. Even a few moments of silliness will re-energize you. So let loose.

10. On that same note, organize theme dinners and parties. Encourage your friends or neighbours to ‘play’ too. Have everyone bring a pot-luck Saturday dinner and wear their silliest hat. Or something outrageously orange! Or pink socks. As you chat and giggle together, you’ll find yourself bonding with one another, creating memories that are wonderful, and forgetting about work. What could be better?

We hope these ideas will start you thinking about your own ways to balance work and play. If you think of other ones, better ones, or have a story to tell about your family’s successes, please feel free to share them — we’d love to hear about them.

Linda has been coaching and counselling women and care-givers for over 5 years. Her clients come with fear, guilt and a complete lack of spontaneity. They end up with a sense of freedom, FUN, and play.
Most clients report that they sleep better and feel more alive after working with FUN-Wey. For a free sample coaching session, visit http://www.fun-wey.com/sample.html

Article Source: Ten Ways to Balance Work with Play

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When you’re inspired you get a tremendous boost to your energy and motivation. This is a great way to get started towards your goal, yet you also need momentum to keep going to reach it.

You can find momentum literally in DETAIL – one factor for each letter of the word. You can use this as a checklist anytime to build and maintain momentum. Score each factor out of 10 (where 10 is perfect):

* Direction

Is your goal still appealing and relevant? Does it have the magnetic attraction to pull you towards it?

If your score is less than 8, you need to clarify your goal. Maybe the size is wrong – if it is too overwhelming, break it into smaller chunks. If it is too small to attract you, make it bigger and bolder.

Remember Michelangelo: “The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark”

* Energy

Check your energy levels. If your score 7 or under, where else is your energy going? Beware the energy vampires.

Low energy can be a sign of working outside of your strengths – what can you share or delegate?

Working with your strengths brings new energy – how can you do more of this?

* Time

Where is this goal on your priority scale? Is it getting enough time to ‘stay alive’? Procrastination is a huge energy drain.

If you score less than 8, the challenge is to find how you can spend more time on this goal. This is a subject in itself (!) so remember that the minimum time is that needed to maintain momentum. Therefore regular inputs of time are as important as the quantity.

If you don’t increase the overall time you spend, how could you use the time you are already spending to build greater momentum?

* Accountability

You may know that making yourself accountable for progress can be a big help in maintaining momentum.

This accountability can be to yourself (checklists, graphs, targets etc) and/or to others. It can be formal (for example, it’s usually a key feature in coaching) or informal. Generally the more people you are accountable to, the stronger the effect.

If you score less than 7, how could you make yourself more accountable?

* Incentives

How well do you use incentives and rewards for milestones on the journey? What celebrations do you make when you reach interim stages?

If you score under 8, there is much scope here. Incentives are inherently personal so you will have an idea of what could work for you.

Experiment with frequency – once a day, once a week, once a month – rewards need to be often enough to assist momentum without taking over so that more time is spent on the rewards than the progress you want!!

* Learning

How well are you learning from progress so far? How effectively are you using the feedback available?

If you score anything under 10 here, there are opportunities to tune your operation. There is scope for working smarter.

Ask : what is working well? What could be working better? What adjustments could you make?

****

Momentum is essential for reaching our goals. Sometimes it builds naturally; more frequently we have to help it along. Now you can use DETAIL as often as you need and enjoy your success.

Trevor helps people who want to be energised, motivated and fulfilled, especially in their working lives. If you would like to receive regular articles like this one or get a FREE copy of Trevor’s ‘Passport To Inspiration’ simply sign-up at
http://www.inspiration-at-work.co.uk

Article Source: Momentum And Goals – How To Build On An Inspired Start And Keep It Going

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We all have the ability to recognise – someone we already know, a difficult situation when we see one, an opportunity that’s staring us in the face or a problem that needs our attention. However, our psychological ability to recognise is just as much a curse as it is a blessing. We take in raw data through our body’s five senses – a psychologist would term this “bottom up” data – through the process of cognition. At this point, the data, of itself is meaningless – we need to interpret it. This is done by adding our “stored knowledge” or “top down information” to the raw data and, in this way, we make sense of what is going on. This is the process of re-cognition.

As I said, this process enables us to make sense of the present moment. Or does it? The big problem with our stored knowledge or top down information is that, generally speaking, it is decades out of date. We generally start storing key elements of that “knowledge” between 12 and 18 months – when we create “schemata” (or pigeonholes) into which we then fit anything similar that we might encounter in later life. From an evolutionary perspective, this gave us a huge advantage – we didn’t have to waste our precious attention on routine day-to-day stuff – we needed that attention to watch out for the next man-eating tiger that might otherwise devour us!

But the result is that, in the modern day, we pay little or no attention to what our senses are actually telling us in the present moment – we prefer, automatically and subconsciously of course, to let our top down information make sense of what’s going on for us. And, in the process, we make nonsense of the present moment and react accordingly.

Somewhere between 12 and 25 years (adolescence), we generally stop taking in new top down information. That has drastic implications for the rest of our lives because, for the rest of our lives, we live in an illusory world of make believe – we create what we think is going on based on out of date information. As a result, so-called “normal” people never really appreciate what is actually happening – everything is “filtered” through their stored knowledge – and, as result, they react to what they think is going on. And, as you and I know, reacting generally makes matters worse, not better.

Quick example. Somebody at work asks you to do something. Because of the way we automatically pigeonhole people, you will have made up your mind whether you like or dislike the person who’s doing the asking within four minutes of meeting them for the first time. Say, for example, she reminds you of your sister-in-law (and you hate your sister-in-law because she reminds you of someone who bullied you at school thirty years ago). Also, the thing you’ve been asked to do is something that you think you don’t like doing – you might, for example, have a hang-up about putting together some sales figures because, when you were small, your father gave you grief over how awful your math marks were (these are all true client stories, by the way).

So, someone, who not only could be the nicest person in the world but who might also have a major impact on your career and on your life, asks you to do a simple task – and you snarl at them in return. It’s an automatic reaction. The request is the raw data – but you’ve made nonsense of the request based on a load of out-dated notions that are stored deeply on your subconscious. And that’s the process of recognition.

And that’s what gets normal adults into trouble. Conflict breaks out at work and at home – not because of what’s actually going on but because of what normal people think is going on. But, worse than that, real opportunities are missed because they are never spotted in the first place. The opportunity could be staring you in the face and, because of your top down data, you wouldn’t recognize it for what it truly is.

Normal people need to stop recognizing and start cognizing all over again. That’s why so many business and sports people meditate – it enables them stop recognizing and start experiencing what is actually and really going on, using their five senses, in the present moment. Watch your TVs – all the great sports people “meditate” before a field kick or a tee shot, before a penalty or a serve in tennis. And I meditation was good enough for someone as prolifically successful in business as Thomas Edison well then, it’s good enough for me. Start paying attention to what your five senses are actually telling you. Stop analyzing, judging, adding your top down out of date information. Whether it’s through some form of formal meditation or just “stopping to smell the roses” – break the vicious cycle of the normal repetitive behaviour that normal recognition automatically produces.

Copyright (c) 2009 Willie Horton

Willie’s work in the area of self-improvement and meditation has been described as “life-changing” and “phenomenal” by clients from every walk of life. His acclaimed two-day personal development workshop is now available online at Gurdy.Net

Article Source: The Dangers of Recognition

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The prospect of retiring soon–or ever–has dimmed for a lot of us. If you’re going to be in the workforce for a very long time, there is one thing that’s absolutely essential: LOVE WHAT YOU DO.

Once we’ve been at something for a while, it’s comfortable to just keep doing it, even if it never was fun. But it makes heaps more sense to do what you love.

If the thought of doing what you are doing now until the day you die feels like drinking a large glass of vinegar, please make plans to do something else. Here are five good reasons to use that strategy.

JOB SATISFACTION: The first reason is, of course, that it makes your life more satisfying. When you love your job, you go to work happy and you come home happy. That translates into better health. Let’s not kid ourselves. No job is perfect all day every day. But if most days have you humming while you grade the papers, adjust the machine, or flip the burgers, you’re onto something.

If, on the other hand, just pulling into the company parking lot makes you want to throw up, you have a little remodeling project to take on. You need to make your work match yourself or you’re going to miserable 24 hours a day.

This sounds simple, but quite often it isn’t. Often, you get to “That’s it. I’m outta here” before you realize the problem. Being “outta here” without a plan for what you want to do next isn’t such a good idea in this economy.

There are good books to help you figure out what you really want. (Books by Martha Beck, Barbara Sher, and me all offer help with this.).) You can try a life coach. Or do a Vision Quest. You can contemplate you left thumb for fifteen minutes every morning until the light starts to dawn if that’s what works for you. Do SOMETHING to discover the kind of work that thrills you when you think of it.

The best clues are how you feel when you encounter the work that’s really yours. The idea of getting involved in it will be energizing. You will have a calm sense of confidence as you start to explore it. Be sincere in looking for YOUR answers. And be open to what comes. You will be amazed.

TALENT MATCH: When you do what you love, the probability that you are truly suited for it goes up exponentially. I have a long time friend who was a good geologist. He could also sell salt water in the Mariana Trench. When he linked his natural sales skills with what he knew about rocks, his prospects skyrocketed. He sold mining and construction equipment quite successfully.

PERCEIVED VALUE: People like to work with those who are happy at what they are doing. When you do what you love, you do it well. Customers or clients will love you. The people who love what they are doing are the ones who get asked to be on the company dream teams, too.

This is not a case of faking it for the sake of advancement. There’s an intuitive piece to this that you just can’t counterfeit. If you like what you do, people like working with you. Period. So find what you like. Find what you LOVE.

JOB SECURITY: Loving what you do will not guarantee you never get laid off. Not even working for yourself guarantees that anymore. But when you love what you do, you find other ways to use what you know to be able to keep doing it.

If you are told they don’t need you as the team lead manufacturing elephant harnesses and you love leather, there are other ways to work with it. If you love to work in a kitchen and just got let go as a short order cook, you may hire on with a caterer, or make nightly meals for clients who can then look forward to your delicious deliveries after a long day of their own work (also at something they love, I hope).

LONGEVITY: You can try to MAKE yourself like what you are already doing, but that doesn’t work for long. The real answer is to find something you love doing whether you get paid for it or not. That solution gives you one last plus–something you will be happy continuing to do–in some form–for as long as you live.

Including for money if you need to. There are lawyers still active in law at age 99; a favorite centenarian story was of a woman still proofreading for the St. Louis Dispatch after her 100th birthday.

Do what you love and use it to thrive–for a long time

Copyright (c) 2009 Mary Lloyd

Mary Lloyd is the author of Supercharged Retirement: Ditch the Rocking Chair, Trash the Remote, and Do What You Love. She offers seminars on how you can create a meaningful retirement for yourself and consults to help your business attract and use retired talent well. She is also available as a speaker. For more insights on how to live well in retirement and before it, go to => http://www.mining-silver.com .

Article Source: Why to Love Your Work

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