Archive for February, 2008
Am I ThirtyTwo Or Eight?
February 28th, 2008 | 
Author: 
As if February wasn’t already unique enough, having only twenty-eight days under normal circumstances. This is especially bad for people who are awaiting events in March, though in later months, people will have already adjusted to the change.
And what about those who are born on the 29th February? Do they have to wait four years for their next birthday? I don’t believe I have never met anyone born on this day, but if one of those people is reading this article, I would very much like to hear from them!
In non-leap years they may celebrate their birthday on 28 February or 1 March. For legal purposes, their legal birthdays depend on how different laws count time intervals. In England the legal birthday of a leapling is 28 February in common years.
Posted in Offbeat
Are You A Fly On The Wall At A Party?
Be there and yet try and remove yourself if not physically then metaphorically to a vantage point in the room and observe the drama unfolding there. There are so many stories unfolding there, you could weave a rich tapestry of stream of conscious narration to write about. I love parties, not so much for the food and the conversation as much as for the wonderful occasion it gives you to study human psychology at such close quarters.
Watch carefully and you can witness multiple themes of power struggles, exhibitionism, displaced affections, loneliness, rivalry, blooming relationships and lost dreams.
I think men and women never really grow up and on party nights you see the child in them so clearly that it makes it an endearing scene to watch. You can actually picture the women in their pinafores and pigtails and the men in their tunic and shorts just like at junior school.
The exhibitionist who loved to draw attention to herself with her loud antics and big mouth hasn’t really changed. She has to be larger-than-life and continues to do that with a loud guffaw, a vociferous comment or a rather effusive hug.
Then there are the braggers among men who stand at the exclusive boys club at the designated watering holes at the party, talking about their exploits and escapades, wowing other men with their tales of success and glory. Take it or leave it, because there is no way to check out the facts.
Tags: “Losers Seekers Finders Keepers.” Well, Not Really…
As me and my workmate stepped on the beach, suddenly she saw a mobile phone lying in the sand. she picked it up and began to scan the phone’s menu in the hope of finding its owner. She was wondering how to get in touch with the person who owned that piece of technology when it rang. The caller identified himself as the owner of the mobile phone.
He told my colleague to stay where she was while he returned to pick it up. My colleague obliged. After a 30-minute wait, a new car pulled up. The owner of the lost phone rolled down the car’s window and literally snatched the mobile from my friend’s hand. He then revved up and drove away in a huff.
Strange. No thank you for finding the phone, no thank you for waiting.
Is it embarrassing to make public an act of gratitude? The person who lost something never thought twice about making a public cry for help. At the most, a hushed and mumbled thank you is what the finder receives. Except, in rare instances when honesty and generosity can mean more than just good deeds and mere words.
A family friend and my boy friend went to watch a movie at a multiplex in a mall. After enjoying a couple of big names on an even bigger screen, the friend dropped by an ATM to withdraw some money.
She got the shock of her life when she saw the balance in her account $42,400.
3 Fears of a U.S Soldier
Chelsea Clinton recently discussed current events with a U.S. soldier .
She asked if, as an American fighting man, anything scared him . He told her there were only three things he feared:1) Osama
2) Obama
AND
Relationships Gone From Hot To, Well, Not?
Emotional intimacy is one of the most wonderful experiences we ever have. Nothing else really comes close to the experience of sharing our deepest thoughts and feelings with another, of being deeply seen and known, of sharing love, passion, laughter, joy, and/or creativity..
Failed relationships seem to be a part of life, and the older many of us get , the more we realize that failed relationships happen more than we would like. But, happen they do, and it is up to us to try and deal with them as best as we can. That too can be very difficult, depending on the level of commitment and love that the two of you shared. Many of us get blind-sided by failed relationships.
Yet avoiding relationships leads to loneliness and lack of emotional and spiritual growth. Relationships offer us the most powerful arena for personal growth, if we accept this challenge. So what moves us beyond the fear of intimacy?
It is not actually the intimacy itself that people fear. If people could be guaranteed that intimacy would continue to be a positive experience, they would have no fear of it. What they fear is the possibility of getting hurt as a result of being intimate with another.
The fear exists, not because of the experience itself, but because a person doesn’t know how to handle the situations of being rejected or controlled. The secret of moving beyond the fear of intimacy lies in developing a powerful loving adult part of us that learns how to not take rejection personally, and learns to set appropriate limits against engulfment.
Posted in Uncategorized
Can You Live Without The Internet?
The internet dominates our lives about this there is no doubt. We are attached to our e-mail accounts and rely extensively on the internet for all kinds of online research and services, whether it is on health and diet, political news, fashion or food recipes.
In a study published recently in the Journal of Affective Disorders, examined the habits of 20 people who had spent more than 30 nonworking hours a week online for the past three years. The participants described skipping sleep, ignoring family responsibilities, and showing up late for work to fulfill their desire to visit chat rooms and surf the Web. The consequences were severe: Many suffered from marital problems, failed in school or lost a job, and accumulated debt.
The Internet is an amazing tool which can instantly connect you to people and information all over the world, but do you ever find yourself spending lots of time on the net, surfing for information, checking your e-mails, playing video games or watching videos on YouTube?
People have been asked what they thought was the most important item in their daily life: the computer, mobile phone or television. The majority of the readers chose their computers, followed closely by mobile phones.
A huge majority of people log on to the internet several times a day or are constantly online (either at home or in office). In terms of exact hours, the majority stay connected between 1 to 2 hours, either checking e-mails or just browsing the Net. It is evident that income may not anything to do with how much time one spends online.
People have been asked what they thought was the most important item in their daily life: the computer, mobile phone, television or any broadband tool. The majority of the readers chose their computers, followed closely by mobile phones.
A huge majority of people log on to the internet several times a day or are constantly online (either at home or in office). In terms of exact hours, the majority stay connected between 1 to 2 hours, either checking e-mails or just browsing the Net. It is evident that income may not anything to do with how much time one spends online.
Now its your turn to talk, are you hooked to the internet…
Create The Perfect Valentine’s Day
What does it take to create the perfect Valentine’s Day? It takes nothing more than a little bit of love and an awful lot of money.
They say it’s the thought that counts, but buyers beware: Valentine’s Day is not so much about giving a gift as it is about giving the gift.
There are more fights and breakups on this day than any other day. Expectations are high. Everyone is looking for confirmation of the level and amount of love.
I have always loathed Valentine’s Day because everywhere I went I would see gaudy pink and red balloons and roses and men who are literally suckered into buying the useless things out of “tradition”.
If you don’t receive a Valentine’s card or gift today, it does not mean you are unloved and unwanted. It may mean that the person who does love and want you does not fall for marketing ploys, designed to get the public to spend their hard-earned money.
Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Grandma’s Day, Grandpa’s Day – all inspired by greeting card manufacturers, tired of only having birthdays and Christmas to recognize with their products. Other tenuous events followed in due course, as the marketing whim took hold: Thank-you Cards, Sorry for Behaving Badly Cards, Retirement Cards, Get Well Cards…
Who knows? Maybe next they’ll think of an “I Didn’t Get Your Card” Card. That will surely get the cash registers ringing again.
What Makes you Happy at work?
Choosing to be happy at work means avoiding negative conversations, gossip, and unhappy people as much as possible. No matter how positively you feel, negative people have a profound impact on your psyche. Happiness is largely a choice. I can hear many of you arguing with me, but it’s true.
“You get paid to do your job, not to like it,” seems to be the attitude of most managers and workplaces. What’s worse, employees seem to be willing participants in this arrangement. When I ask people what makes them happy at work, they rarely talk about the work itself – many tend to see it as a means to an end, rather than as something to enjoy.
You spend more time at work than with your family, friends, and hobbies combined. Hating your job is not an inconvenience, it’s a serious problem. It can cause stress and depression.
And yet, a job can be a tremendous source of happiness. It can give you success, victories, and professional and personal growth. It can let you contribute to something important. It can be a source of positive, meaningful relationships with both managers and co-workers. It can, in fact, be a lot of fun!
A young employee complained to me recently that she wanted to change jobs because her boss was not doing enough to help her develop professionally. I asked her whom she thought was the person most interested in her development. The answer, of course, was her. You are the person with the most to gain from continuing to develop professionally. Take charge of your own growth.
How to Handle Addiction to Urgency?
Are you addicted to urgency? Signs of addiction include inability to make choice or slow yourself down, feeling compelled to act, ignoring other aspects of your life, and worry/guilt about your behavior.
When we feel restless when not working, function best under pressure, work through lunch, take infrequent breaks from work, and get used to the adrenaline rush from having to meet deadlines. Do you resemble those remarks?
I have to admit sometimes I do! My boy friend is the exact opposite, nothing appears urgent to him he is just so relaxed most of the time.
How do we combat this sense of urgency? The unexpected is to be expected in every project — even in a routine, well oiled lifestyle. And when that becomes a reality, effective crisis management becomes an essential skill and important best practice.
Sometimes the key lies in reacting quickly to a crisis and contain it before it does more damage. The problem surfaces when crisis management becomes the routine rather than the exception. Are you spending more of your time putting out fires than doing your work? If so, you are managing by crisis.
When crisis management becomes ‘normal’, it can easily lead to what Stephen Covey calls “Urgency Addiction.” People that are addicted to urgency enjoy the adrenalin rush, they like stepping in and handling problems, and at times they even get rewarded for doing that! They lack the basic incentive to avoid or prevent the fires because they see a payoff every time they put one out.
Dreams Could Be Nightmares In Disguise
Dreaming is so basic to human existence, it’s astonishing we don’t understand it better. It consumes years of our lives, and no other single activity exerts such a powerful pull on our imaginations. Yet central as dreaming is, we still have no idea why we dream.
Dreams have been the subject of extensive investigation through psychoanalysis since its inception and more recently by experimental studies of sleep and the psychophysiology of the dream/sleep state. For example, do we dream in order to sleep, do we sleep in order to dream.
Here is my little list of some dreams which could actually result in a nightmare in real life.
Beautiful spouse: You dream of having a beautiful wife but once you find the queen of your dreams, you realize that the secret to her striking looks is denting the pocket! Trips to the parlor, jeweler, cosmetics …
Machine mania: You’ve been dreaming of owning a swanky, powerful, lean mean machine. But when you finally get one, you find you can hardly go faster than a snail – thanks to the nightmarish traffic.
A new hobby: The art instructor who showed you how to mix colors was a real sweetie pie but when you enroll for the class your teacher turns out to be a grouch!
