Archives for August 2012

Variety is more than the spice of life

August 27, 2012 by 1 Comment

It is interesting how often I have come across a list of “Top 10 most nutritional foods“. I have seen at least a dozen such lists. Certain foods show up repeatedly on such lists, such as blueberries, broccoli and garlic. Other foods might make just a single appearance, such as lemons (that was on such a list I saw last week, and I am pretty sure it was the first time I saw it on a top-10 nutrition list).

But picking just ten foods, while it has some appeal in making things simple and in helping us prioritize what we buy at the grocery store, would be a poor nutritional strategy. That’s because we need variety.

Surely you have heard how important it is not to invest all your money in one place – to “diversify”. That is why you might invest in stocks, in bonds, in Forex, in currency, in mutual funds of various types, in a house, etc.

Diversification is not just for money. And variety is not just the spice of life; it is much more.

It is a wise idea to make salads with many different ingredients, and to vary them from day to day. In other words, each time you go to the store, try to buy a few vegetables that you don’t usually buy. Different kinds of onions. New varieties of cabbage. Apple varieties you don’t buy every day.

Same with exercise. It is very tempting to go through the same movements every day, but a complete workout entails working every muscle in different ways.

What about the news you read or view? Getting it all from CNN? Reading only The Globe and Mail? Shake it up; get more than one world view if you really want to understand what’s going on. Every media outlet has its own editorial slant or bias. It can be comforting to get your news from media that share your own biases, it reinforces your views. But that won’t broaden your mind, it will only narrow it.

Think variety.

  • Education
  • Fashion
  • Activities
  • Social circle

If you live a varied life, you will keep growing in so many ways. You want your health, your mind, your wallet, your experience – everything – to keep growing. So get out of the rut and into something new.

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Women have the happiness gene

August 26, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Women are blessed.  It seems that they posses the happiness gene, or so a  study done by researchers at the University of South Florida has discovered.  The study explains why women are often happier than men, depending upon the presence or lack of a certain gene in the brain.

A gene called ‘MAOA’ affects the levels of feel-good chemicals in the brain, and is responsible for fluctuating moods in both men as well as women. Apparently, it works more to women’s advantage.

Read more…

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Beauty marks

August 15, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The little girl was staring at the man with the disfigured face.  She whispered to her mother, “Why is that man so ugly?”

The woman tried to hush her daughter….but it was too late.  The man had heard.

He stood up and crossed the waiting room.  He sat down beside the girl.  “Would you like to know how I got these beauty marks?” he asked the girl, with a wink and a smile to the mother.

“Uh-huh,” the girl answered.

“One day, there was a fire in my apartment block.  Everybody had to leave their apartments and head for the street, safe from the flames.  One mother was beside herself in panic.  She had arrived on the sidewalk with her daughter, but her son was nowhere to be found.”

“A man nearby ran back into the apartment to find her son, and bring him to safety.  He picked up the boy and carried him out. But on their way, something burning fell across their side.  Both the man and the boy caught fire.  There was nothing to do but run down the stairs and out the door as fast as possible and roll in the grass.

“Both the man and the boy survived.  And they both were left with matching beauty marks,” the man finished with a smile.

In a voice not much louder than a whisper the girl said, “Wow.  You saved the boy.  That’s what the marks of a hero looks like.”

The man just laughed.  “No, these are not the marks of a hero.  These are the marks of love.  You see, I was that boy.  And a stranger loved me enough to share these marks with me.”

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Thoughts on love

August 13, 2012 by Leave a Comment

People sometimes wonder how step families work and how they merge together successfully. It can be difficult as there are a lot of emotions involved. But my children have taught me that what makes the most difficult situations work is quite simply love.

Love makes the world go around as they say and in our case love is what makes it possible for our situation to work so well.

My husband has 3 children from his first marriage and we have had two little girls who now are 3 and 5. But despite what you hear of the horror stories about step families and evil step mothers we actually all somehow manage to get along famously.

We don’t all live together all the time though so I guess that makes it a bit different but the 3 children who are 14, 11 and 9 come and stay with us in the school holidays and gosh do my girls absolutely adore them. They roll into town like a carnival, full of stories and endless games. The girls literally count down until they come to visit and get so excited to see them.

READ ALSO: Happy parents limerick

I really love my husband’s children from his first marriage. They are bright, funny and well-mannered and have embraced the girls like a rugby team embracing the quarterback who just won the game. It is so lovely to watch them all together. The care and concern the 3 older children display for the little ones is extraordinary. They all formed a bond very quickly.

I don’t think we could have anticipated how well it would all merge together but thanks to the children really it works. The holidays are filled with boisterous fun as they older children entertain the girls for hours and hours and the girls are lit up like Christmas trees the whole time.

I guess I wanted to share how special I think the bond is between them and that love binds it together. I sometimes think you can read all the books written about how to make these situations work but in this instance the children have shown me that what makes it work is love actually and lots of it. The love they show their little sisters and how much the girls love them is the glue that holds this together and makes it what it is.

Here are 3 lessons that I’ve learnt about being part of a step family:

  1. Accept– Accept that there are lots of dynamics and it won’t always be easy. Every step family is different but it’s unique and it’s yours to love and cherish as it is.
  2. Nurture– Give it lots of nurturing but don’t try to push it too much to “work” or “be perfect”. Everyone is coming in from different places and taking it in so it takes time for everyone to fit together, build and grow into a new situation.
  3. Love– In a complicated situation often the simplest solutions are the best. Showing love, patience and understanding wherever possible is going to be priceless.

Josie loves her big family and knows the truth in the saying ‘love makes the world go around’.

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What Can Snatch Away the Job Opportunity from You

August 8, 2012 by Leave a Comment

In today’s competitive world, gaining your dream job is a greatest thing to achieve. Employers often prefer recruiting candidates who are perfect in each and every thing they do. Thus, the only way to impress and realize the employers that your are the appropriate candidate is to draft an effective and error free resume. Any small mistake in your resume can create a severe drawback and decrease your chances of getting selected. Apart from resume mistakes, candidates are unaware of many other reasons that snatch away their job opportunities. Following are some of the common mistakes made by applicants while applying for a job or going for an interview.

  • Your Social Media Profile: After going through an impressive resume, employers now-a-days go through the candidate’s social media profiles to gain some additional knowledge about the applicant. Thus, make sure you keep your social media profile clean to ensure it doesn’t become a reason for your rejection. Avoid uploading any photos, videos, or information that can snatch away a precious job opportunity from you.
  • Irrelevant Information in Resume: Your resume is the first impression of you in front of the employer. Thus, make sure you draft an effective and error free resume. Your resume must include all the essential information relevant to the applied job position. All the important segments in your resume such as the career objectives, key skills, and experience must provide adequate information to the employer that will help them in judging your eligibility for the applied job position. Including any irrelevant information in your resume will create a bad impression of you making an employer realize that you are unaware of the job profile and are inappropriate candidate for that particular job.
  • Fake Information: Candidates often include fake information in their resume in order to impress the employer and gain their dream job. However, applicants must understand that each and every information in your resume is verified by the employer before they actually call you for the interview. Thus, any fake information in your resume can definitely snatch away a good job opportunity from you.
  • Inappropriate Dress Code: This is another common reason for rejection among the candidates. Many a times, applicants are unaware of the dress code for the interviews and end up wearing casuals. Your dress code is your first impression on the employer when you go for an interview. Thus, an applicant must be well dressed in formal shirt, trouser, and shoes. Wearing a tie would definitely add more effect on your personality.

The above points well help you understand some of the common mistakes made by applicants while applying for a job. Your career is the most important thing in your life. Thus, avoid making any mistakes that would snatch any good job opportunities from you and restrict you from building a bright career.


 

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