Health Tips That Will Make Your Life Better.

Health Tips That Will Make Your Life Better.

Create a meal plan. 

Planning out your meals ahead of time will help you spend less money and stick to your health goals. 

Stop eating fried food. 

Fried food makes you feel awful for 24 hours (not to mention it lacks nutrients). You’ll feel better if you cut out fried food.

Don’t go more than 3 days without exercising. 

Exercising gives you energy, helps relieve stress, and helps you get fit. It’s too hard to squeeze it in every day sometimes, but don’t go more than 3 days without it.

Eat minimal dairy. 

If you have a sensitive stomach, try cutting out dairy. For some people this can eliminate digestive problems.

Cut out one of the following: 

pop, coffee, alcohol, or sugar. If you could cut all these, then even better.

Get enough good sleep. 

This may be 5.5 hours or it may be 8 hours  whatever it is for you, make sure you get it. The quality matters just as much as the time spent sleeping. Sleep allows you to regenerate and gives you greater concentration.

Focus on building strength more than on being skinny. 

This will create positive goals that are attainable and healthy for you.

Make sure you get enough Vitamin C and D. 

Both of these can impact your health in a positive way if you get enough (and can have the opposite effect if they’re lacking). Check with your doctor which vitamins recommends.

Drink enough water every day. 

A good rule of thumb is to divide your body weight by 2 and that’s how many ounces you should drink.

Keep track of your annual, routine doctor appointments and don’t miss any. 

Put a recurring reminder on your calendar for things like dental checkups, skin checks, and physicals so you don’t miss any. Take your preventative care seriously.

Take fitness classes or hire a personal trainer. 

If you struggle to get fit, classes or a trainer are great ways to go. Just make sure you can afford it!

Subscribe to a health blog. 

Learn about healthy living as a lifestyle practice little by little every day.

10 Self Improvement Tips That Will Change Your Life

10 Self Improvement Tips That Will Change Your Life. 

#1. Love Yourself

       The first self improvement tip is learning to love yourself. Unfortunately for many, this is easier said than done. You have to learn to accept who you are and that you are beautiful just the way you are. You are supposed to simply be you.

#2. Exercise

       When you lift heavy weights, your body exerts more effort and you release more endorphins into your system. This is what makes you feel better and improves your mood.

#3. Eat Better

       If you are going to work out, you might as well eat well too, right? I find when I am working out, I eat better. When I stop working out, I eat poorly. It’s a simple cycle really. 

#4. Change Your Habits

     We are all creatures of habit. We follow the same routines, day in, day out. This makes life easier for us, but also makes us lazy. To spice things up, you need to change your habits. Instead of taking the same way to work every day, try a new way.  Find simple ways to change things up in life.

#5. Set Goals

      While you change your habits, you should also focus on setting goals for yourself. Where do you want to be in one year, or three or five years? Don’t just write them down, but visualize these goals. Make the goals a part of you.

#6. Accept Failure

Don’t believe the lie that failure is a bad thing. It is only a bad thing if you never learn from it. Be willing to try new things, give it your best shot and if you fail, take the time to step back. Reflect on the reasons that led you to fail and try again. As you progress, you are growing as a person.

#7. Create A Mission Statement

    You need to know who you are and what you stand for. In other words, you need to create a personal mission statement. Don’t mull over creating the perfect mission statement here. Just come up with something that identifies who you are and what you are about. As time goes on, you can modify it.

#8. Be Thankful

    Try to take a few minutes at the end of each day and think back on what happened and acknowledge the positive things in your life and be thankful for them. the more you do this, the easier they will be to identify.

#9. Learn A New Skill

     Learning a new skill breeds confidence in ourselves. When we learn something new, we get excited and are eager to learn more. This increases our self confidence and we grow and want to learn more. It’s a cycle that fuels itself. Challenging yourself is a great tool when it comes to self development. By learning new things, you grow as a person.

#10. Stop Wasting Time

     How will you find time to learn those news skills you wrote about above? Easy, stop wasting time. I bet you could easily carve out a few hours in your day to learn a new skill. 

8 Steps Towards Becoming The Leader You Need To Be To Succeed

An important part of success in life is the ability to lead. It is important that we not only be able to lead others but be willing to lead ourselves. No one succeeds in life by simply following others. Sometimes we simply must strike a bold new path for ourselves.

Being a good leader is more than simply being at the forefront of the crowd. A leader must act. Too often in America, we simply accept that someone looks or sounds like a leader and too rarely do we actually look at the actions that leader performs -- and that is the true test of leadership.

However, in order to become good leaders ourselves, we need to concentrate on actions rather than simple appearances. The title of this article refers to eight steps, but do not think of these as progressive steps like so many recipes or instruction manuals describe. Instead, think of these as actions that you must take on a regular basis.

First, be alert to new potentials. "Reality" is not absolute but rather subject to constant change. Think about inventors, explorers, and agents of social change who have achieved greatness. Some might simply say that certain people are successful because they are lucky to be in the right place at the right time. Maybe so, but if they hadn't had their eyes open for the opportunity, then it wouldn't have mattered if they were in the right place.

Second, accept inspiration from wherever it comes; even your opponents. The wisest leaders constantly study their competition. In war, politics, and business we constantly see examples of this research and reconnaissance. Too many times though a certain study, many concentrate on finding a weakness to exploit. If you want to a be a leader of positive change don't fall victim to this trend. Instead, if you find a weakness, make sure to avoid that pitfall yourself. If you find the strength then find a way to strengthen your own qualities to match.

Third, learn something new and promote in new ways every day. This means you must continually seek to expand your horizons, internally and externally. Feed your mind with new lessons and knowledge, but constantly expand your social horizons as well. Seek out and meet new people and immerse yourself in new social situations. You never know when these new experiences will help you in your leadership role.

Fourth, search for and find answers in subtle clues. Look beneath the surface and constantly question. This is an extension of the third step in that you are seeking new knowledge. But this also means that you will need to step off the traditional paths of knowledge. Don't simply read books in the literary canon or the bestsellers list. Take seminars rather than classes as there is more room for questioning and debate. Seek out the unconventional thinkers, teachers, and writers.

Fifth, improvise if no existing solutions are available. No excuses. Necessity is the mother of invention. How do you know it won't work if you've never tried it before? Remember, not all approaches need to come from the front. Look at your problem from all sides and systematically attempt different solutions in various combinations.

Six, make at least one person you care about happy every day. If you make it a point to be thoughtful and caring for one person every day then soon this thoughtful, caring behavior will become a habit and that habit will spread to the others around you. Making someone else happy also feeds your own personal happiness. Just imagine how much better the world would be if we all did a little bit more to spread happiness.

Seven, offer help, even if there's no apparent advantage to you. This means more than writing a check. It means giving of your time and energy and yourself. Sometimes it will mean helping someone you don't know and sometimes it can be a very personal action.

Finally, never let negativity be your last word on the subject. If your final words are negative than no matter how hopeful you may be about the potential of a project or action the lasting impression you give to others is one of negativity. Accentuate the positive and you are more likely to see a positive outcome.

If you follow these eight action steps not only you will be a better leader but also lead yourself to a more successful life.

20 Tips For A Great Night's Sleep

Getting a good night's sleep helps us to be happier, more productive people, so here's some tips to help you get a good night's sleep:

1. Avoid drinking tea or coffee late at night

2. Stop smoking – nicotine is a stimulant and so can make it difficult to get to sleep and stay asleep

3. Go to bed at the same time each night so that you set a routine

4. Only use the bed for sleeping and sex

5. Use dimmers on your light switches, and dim the lights in the hours before you go to bed to mimic the change from daylight to night time

6. Avoid taking exercise in the evening – exercise early in the day to promote restful sleep

7. Try using affirmations, such as: “I let go of the day, and enjoy restful, peaceful sleep” repeated several times while you prepare for sleep

8. If you can’t get to sleep after a while, get up keeping the lights low and do something boring until you feel sleepy

9. Alcohol may help you get to sleep, but you are more likely to wake during the night feeling thirsty and needing to go to the bathroom

10. Try relaxed breathing: breathe slowly and deeply concentrating on your abdomen rather than your chest

11. Get your allergies checked out, particularly if you wake craving particular food in the middle of the night

12. Avoid paying bills and similar jobs just before sleep

13. Try a herbal tea - chamomile, passion flower, lavender flowers or valerian are good, or take a herbal supplement such as scullcap or valerian

14. Put the essential oils lavender and clary sage on your pillow and inhale their soothing vapours as you sleep

15. Try some flower remedies - there are lots of different types. In the Bach flower remedies you might like to try ‘vervain’ if you find it difficult to switch off from the
day; ‘holly’ if anger and resentment keep you awake; ‘white chestnut’ for persistent unwanted thoughts; ‘aspen’ if you wake because of nightmares

16. Try holding your frontal eminences (the bumps on your forehead, about half way between your eyebrows and hairline) if you are awake because of stress

17. Try taking supplements – magnesium and calcium can work well

18. If you suffer with hot flushes/flashes, try some natural support for your endocrine system at this time. I personally recommend Neways wild yam and chaste berry cream

19. Many alternative and complementary therapists have success with people with sleep problems. Find a local therapist and ask them if they have experience in this field

20. Sleep problems can be a sign of an underlying medical condition (e.g. thyroid problems or depression), so get this checked out with a suitably qualified health professional

Living A Happy Life

Most of us get up each day and go through the same routine whatever we do in life – most of us are reasonably happy and content and just get on with living.

There is of course nothing wrong with that in the slightest but what would you say if you were granted the gift of REAL happiness which lead you down a path of such peace and contentment that no other experience you’ve had to date could compare.

You know what it’s like when you are looking forward to Christmas, the anticipation and the excitement just builds and builds. The same is true when the countdown to your holiday begins and then the joy of the holiday itself.

Well how would you like those feelings of pure joy, anticipation and excitement to be with you on a daily basis and then to find that the fulfilment part is even better – a feeling that you could just “burst for joy” and an inner peace and contentment that you’ve only ever seen at the movies?

Well I’ve found just that and the adrenalin seems to be pumping all the time and the buzz and excitement I get from life still amazes me.

I had the most amazing experience just under 3 years ago and my life changed dramatically from that day on and the incredible thing is that it just gets better and better – the miraculous gift that I’ve been given is something that I feel driven to expose the rest of mankind too, regardless of race colour or creed.

It was for that reason my book formed (I had been writing a few details of my experiences and at the time I had no intention of actually writing a book) and I just want to share this experience because if we could all feel like I do now the world would be such a different place to live in not just for us but for our children and their children and so on – a happy life is there for us all if we just accept the wondrous gift that is on offer – a gift that actually costs us nothing at all.

A recent testimonial, exerts of which are included below, show just why I want this book to reach and touch people who are looking for what I’ve found.

I LAVISHED your book. My life was in shambles; my wife had divorced me and tonight I was in such a state of despair that I had rung my Mother to tell her that suicide was my only option - after reading your book I have a peace about me that I have not had since I was 19 and I'm 56 now. Thank you thank you for allowing God to speak through you to me - I now feel a complete relief from all the pain and misery I have known for the past 37 years and I thank you for saving my life - actually GOD SAVED MY LIFE but you threw me the life preserver - may God continue to bless you, your family and your ministry.

"A Better You" Your 7 days program to self-improvement

I seem to lost count on how many times I've read and heard of celebrity marriages failing almost left and right. Not that I care (and personally I don't), it seems strange that we often see movie and TV stars as flawless people, living the fairytale life of riches and glamour. I suppose we all have to stop sticking our heads in the clouds and face reality.

There are many ways to lose your sense of self-esteem despite of how trivial it could get. But whatever happens, we should all try not to lose our own sense of self.

So what does it take to be a cut above the rest? Here are some of the things you can think and improve on that should be enough for a week.

1. Know your purpose
Are you wandering through life with little direction - hoping that you'll find happiness, health and prosperity? Identify your life purpose or mission statement and you will have your own unique compass that will lead you to your truth north every time.

This may seem tricky at first when you see yourself to be in a tight or even dead end. But there's always that little loophole to turn things around and you can make a big difference to yourself.

2. Know your values
What do you value most? Make a list of your top 5 values. Some examples are security, freedom, family, spiritual development, learning. As you set your goals for 2005 - check your goals against your values. If the goal doesn't align with any of your top five values - you may want to reconsider it or revise it.

The number shouldn't discourage you, instead it should motivate you to do more than you can ever dreamed of.

3. Know your needs
Unmet needs can keep you from living authentically. Take care of yourself. Do you have a need to be acknowledged, to be right, to be in control, to be loved? There are so many people who lived their lives without realizing their dreams and most of them end up being stressed or even depressed for that matter. List your top four needs and get them met before it's too late!

4. Know your passions
You know who you are and what you truly enjoy in life. Obstacles like doubt and lack of enthusiasm will only hinder you, but will not derail your chance to become the person you ought to be. Express yourself and honor the people who has inspired you to become the very person you wanted to be.

5. Live from the inside out
Increase your awareness of your inner wisdom by regularly reflecting in silence. Commune with nature. Breathe deeply to quiet your distracted mind. For most of us city slickers it's hard to even find the peace and quiet we want even in our own home. In my case I often just sit in a dimly lit room and play some classical music. There's sound, yes, but music does soothe the savage beast.

6. Honor your strengths
What are your positive traits? What special talents do you have? List three - if you get stuck, ask those closest to you to help identify these. Are you imaginative, witty, good with your hands? Find ways to express your authentic self through your strengths. You can increase your self-confidence when you can share what you know to others.

7. Serve others
When you live authentically, you may find that you develop an interconnected sense of being. When you are true to who you are, living your purpose and giving of your talents to the world around you, you give back in service what you came to share with others -your spirit - your essence. The rewards for sharing your gift with those close to you is indeed rewarding, much more if it were to be the eyes of a stranger who can appreciate what you have done to them.

Self-improvement is indeed one type of work that is worth it. It shouldn't always be within the confines of an office building, or maybe in the four corners of your own room. The difference lies within ourselves and how much we want to change for the better.

8 Steps to Effective Christian Leadership

As a Christian leader, you are held to high moral, ethical, and social standards.  As a leader, you are held to high standards, but as a Christian leader, that bar is raised even higher.  Why?  Because both the Christian and non-Christian social environment has tended to expect that Christians measure up to their self-proclaimed moral and ethical standards, as they rightly should.  What can you do to be sure you ‘stand up to the test’ in the area of Christian leadership?

1)    Probably the most important thing you can do as a Christian leader is to clean up your act---if there is anything in your life, moral or ethical, which would not stand up to scrutiny if the entire world found out---you must eliminate it immediately.  Do not give anyone an occasion to think that you are a hypocrite.

2)    Be sure that every decision you make is honest and ethical.  You cannot effectively lead, as a Christian or not, when your decisions and actions are not above-board, fair, and honest.

3)    As a Christian leader, commit to telling the truth no matter what.  As a Christian leader, when you lie or tell half-truths, people tend to feel that your entire faith is a sham.  In fact, if you are habitually lying and telling half-truths, your faith may indeed be a sham.

4)    Learn everything you can about the tasks at hand, even if it means working in the trenches for awhile.  No one likes to be led by someone who has never done what they are doing.  This doesn’t mean you have to become an expert, just participate in the menial work long enough to understand the frustrating aspects of the work.  Another benefit to this is, when you have actually done the work, you can more effectively brainstorm solutions to challenges when they arise.

5)    Lead by example.  Do you expect your employees or secretaries to arrive on time for work, and dressed well?  Then you must do the same.  Sometimes it is so easy to think that you have earned the right to come in whenever you feel like it, or to return from lunch whenever you wish.  Sure, you may have earned the right, but you gain far more by setting the example for performance.  Do you expect others to work overtime when a project is behind projections?  Then you must be willing to do the same.

6)    Although you may feel you have earned the right to delegate away all the work, continue to be involved in productive tasks.  By doing some of the work, not only do you gain the respect of your employees, but also you keep in touch with the flow of things.  As a leader, it is easy to become disengaged from the actual productive segment of your business, and resultantly make decisions that look good on paper and sound good around the boardroom table, but are actually worthless when the rubber hits the road.

7)    Constantly reevaluate your own performance.  Often, you may spend so much time correcting the actions of others and solving crises you didn’t create, that you develop a sense that others aren’t as capable as you.  Consequently, you may not recognize when you are falling into bad habits that also need to be corrected.  Be the first to recognize and correct your own short-fallings.

8)    Avoid pride.  Once in a position of leadership, especially if you are good at what you do, it is easy to begin to feel that you are invincible.  Once that occurs, you become vulnerable to pride, and may make decisions you would frown on if your subordinates made the same decisions.  Maintain full responsibility for your actions, and keep them above-board at all times.


Bonus Step:

9)    Learn to manage your time.  When you are in a position of leadership and find yourself delegating away most of the time-consuming tasks, it is easy to lose control of your time.  Again, when your employees see you wasting your time, they will tend to do the same.

5 Great Tips To Make Your Goals Your Reality

Goals are a great tool for motivation. But if you don't use them correctly, they can also be a source of frustration. Goals are only empowering if they are used properly. So how do you make a goal into something that is a benefit for you?

Goal-setting strategies are important especially for to help you create the type of success you desire and deserve. Here are five goal-setting techniques to help you realize them.

1. Balance Your Goals: In your life you will have per...

Goals are a great tool for motivation. But if you don't use them correctly, they can also be a source of frustration. Goals are only empowering if they are used properly. So how do you make a goal into something that is a benefit for you?

Goal-setting strategies are important especially for to help you create the type of success you desire and deserve. Here are five goal-setting techniques to help you realize them.

1. Balance Your Goals: In your life you will have personal development goals, personal finance goals and things goals. Don't neglect any of them. It is ok to want things, but don't forget to balance those pursuits with your own growth as a person. All of these goals are important so be clear about all of them and make them real for you.

2. Plan Actions From Your Goals: Goals are not items for your to do list. Your goal is what you are striving for. Plan specific actions that lead you towards those goals. Use the goals to provide your compass for those actions. When you plan actions for the day you can easily tell if they're going to be effective if you have clear goals to compare them against.

3. Share Your Goals: If you were an archer, would you keep it a secret that your goal is to hit the bull's-eye? Too many keep their goals a secret. Share your goals with people who will support and encourage your aims.

4. Write Down Your Goals: Make your goals real by recording them. Put copies of your goals on index cards and keep copies in the car and in the bathroom and review them regularly. Make them the center of your focus. Don't just set them and then ignore them. Your goals are like a compass to tell you which way to go. The exciting part is that you get to chose the alignment of your compass.

5. Don't Give Up: Your goals and the actions you take to get them are different things. Don't be afraid to try something, fail and try something else. Take effective and massive action to meet your goals and understand that any true goals will take many steps to achieve. Sometimes you will make a misstep, but that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with the goal. Everyone makes mistakes, but it's only those who abandon their goals who don't achieve them.

20 Ways To Make Someone Smile

In today's world we simply don't smile enough. By making someone smile you will make a good friend.

Do you want to put a smile on someone's face today? Maybe make their day a little better. It won't cost you a single penny or much time to do just that. And because smiling is contagious, it probably won't just be one person you make smile today.

Here are 20 ways to turn that frown upside down.

1.  Send some flowers to your partner at work.
2.  Compliment a friend or work colleague on their appearance.
3.  Donate something to charity.
4.  Take a friend out to lunch.
5.  Let someone know you miss them.
6.  Make a surprise telephone call to your partner at work, just to say hi.
7.  Hold a door open for someone walking behind you.
8.  Hug your partner for no reason.
9.  Leave a joke on a friends answer machine.
10. Send a card to a friend letting them know what a good friend they are.
11. Give up your seat on the train to someone when there aren't any left.
12. Share your umbrella on a rainy day.
13. Ask a friend if they need anything while you're out shopping.
14. When it's raining, plan an indoor picnic with your children.
15. Leave a love letter somewhere where your partner will find it.
16. Send someone an unusual and unexpected gift like chocolate, flowers or sex toys.
17. Tell your child you're proud of them.
18. Tell someone you thought about them the other day.
19. Cook a surprise meal for your partner one night, especially if they normally do the cooking.
20. Tell your partner you love them.

Did you know it takes only 17 muscles to smile, but 43 to frown. Why waste all that energy frowning when you could just smile.

Here are 5 more facts about smiling.

1. Women smile more than men.
2. Smiling releases endorphins that make us feel better.
3. We are all born with the ability to smile, it's not something we learn from others.
4. A smile is a universal expression of happiness.
5. A smiling person is thought to be a more pleasant, attractive, sociable, sincere and competent than a non-smiling person.

Just remember, smiling is the easiest and cheapest way of improving your looks.