Rules in life

[Guest]

http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/Departments/elearning/?article=mbaswithexperience&GT1=8335

M.B.A. students lack of "relevant" experience.


David Speicher is looking for a few good M.B.A.s who have made their share of mistakes.

To Mr. Speicher, head of human resources for a Philadelphia asset-management firm, the best M.B.A. students have made enough decisions and mistakes in their careers to have gained some valuable insight. "When someone makes one of those nausea-inducing errors in judgment," he explains, "he or she comes away with a blend of confidence and humility."

For example, he hired a student from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University in Atlanta who had worked nearly seven years as an accountant and an investment analyst before seeking an M.B.A. "I saw him as a candidate with a demonstrated work ethic and the maturity to introspectively explain what mistakes he'd made in the roles he'd held," says Mr. Speicher. "While he did not possess the ideal sales experience that I would have liked, these other points were too strong to ignore."

Hiring an M.B.A. graduate is an expensive proposition, and companies complain that too often they aren't immediately getting their money's worth from a green recruit. In The Wall Street Journal/Harris Interactive survey, recruiters frequently criticize M.B.A. students for lacking enough specialized, "relevant" experience. Most recruiters say they expect a minimum of four or five years' experience, preferably in their industries. Some are even hoping for six or seven years.

Both quantity and quality of experience are crucial. Recruiters are looking for students who have learned to cope with ambiguity, adversity and conflict in the workplace. Some M.B.A.s believe "simply working two or three years entitles them to a leadership position immediately following graduation," says Jeff Rynbrandt, who does recruiting for Guidant Corp., a marketer of cardiovascular products. "To me, students need to have demonstrated success in their past job with positions of increasing responsibility and be able to articulate how their actions specifically contributed to those successes."

Recruiters also are wary of too much job-hopping--a red flag that students may have moved on because they weren't getting promoted. That's how Aaron Mitchell, a management consultant in Oakland, California, perceives people "who moved between five or six companies within a five-year period." Their resumes, he says, "are a common relic of the dot-com era, when the average tenure was less than a year." Even if an M.B.A. had advanced to a higher position at a new company, Mr. Mitchell finds it difficult to determine whether the applicant "demonstrated the motivation to move up through an organization."

[Guest]

Alert: Don't heat food by microwave.

My friend's baby has grown well after she taken advice from doctor not to heat formula by microwave.

And the following web site also provide the same message. You can see the pictures that a 6th grade did science fair project for watering plant by filtered water and heated water in a microwave. There is a difference in the growth between the normal boiled water the water boiled in a microwave. The plant is died by watering from microwave.

http://www.execonn.com/sf/


Below is that my granddaughter did for 2006. In it she took filtered water and divided it into two parts. The first part she heated to boiling in a pan on the stove, and the second part she heated to boiling in a microwave. Then after cooling she used the water to water two identical plants to see if there would be any difference in the growth between the normal boiled water and the water boiled in a microwave. She was thinking that the structure or energy of the water may be compromised by microwave. As it turned out, even she was amazed at the difference.

Below are the pictures that were actually submitted with the project. Some of them were created with photoshop for the science fair presentation from the original photos, so the display would be consistant and easy to follow. The actual original photos are posted at the bottom with thumbnails. They are thumbnailed because the original photos were extremely high resolution.

[Guest]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - That ice-cold watermelon may be refreshing, but it can be less nutritious than watermelon served at room temperature, U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists reported on Wednesday.

Watermelons stored at room temperature deliver more nutrients than refrigerated or freshly picked melons, they reported in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Penelope Perkins-Veazie and Julie Collins of the USDA's South Central Agricultural Research Laboratory in Lane, Oklahoma looked specifically at carotenoids -- antioxidants that can counter the damage caused by sun, chemicals and day-to-day living.

Watermelon is rich in lycopene, an antioxidant that makes watermelons and tomatoes red and may help prevent heart disease and some cancers.

Perkins-Veazie and Collins tested several popular varieties of watermelon stored for 14 days at 70 F (21 C), 55 F (13 C) and 41 F (5 C).

Whole watermelons stored at 70 degrees Fahrenheit, which is about room temperature in air-conditioned buildings, had substantially more nutrients, they reported.

Compared to freshly picked fruit, watermelon stored at 70 F gained up to 40 percent more lycopene and 50 percent to 139 percent extra beta-carotene, which the body converts to vitamin

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=healthNews&storyID=2006-07-27T122219Z_01_N26406455_RTRUKOC_0_US-WATERMELON.xml&src=072706_0846_ARTICLE_PROMO_also_on_reuters

[Guest]

Martha Brockenbrough
Are Smart People Better Employees?
by Martha Brockenbrough

Here's something mind-boggling, especially if you have to work in a group: Your effectiveness as a group can be foretold if you know the IQ of the smartest person in the room, according to researchers at Yale.

It didn't matter so much what the average IQ of the group was. What mattered most was that there was one really bright person in the room.

This is what a Yale University psychology and education professor found after studying 96 volunteers ranging in age from 14 to 70, and reported in the December 1988 issue of the journal Intelligence.

But this didn't guarantee that one egghead in a room full of average joes is going to make an effective group.

They found there can be such a thing as too smart; if the group brainiac outstripped the others by too wide a margin, two problems could arise:

* It could be threatening
* The dimmer group members might not recognize the excellence of the smart person's contributions

Not surprisingly, good social skills are important in a group. But here, unlike with intelligence, it doesn't work to have one person with great social skills in a room full of wallflowers. It works better when everyone has roughly equivalent skills, because the socially gifted person might become an eager beaver and try to take over the group, even if his or her intelligence doesn't warrant such a high-profile role.
Learn More!

• Who are 10 famous people you'd like to have on your committee?
• Are intelligence tests flawed?
• What do most people score on their IQ tests?
• See a sample verbal IQ test

A true smarty pants might say, "Hey. Get rid of the committee and let the genius solve all our problems."

While this would be a good way of cutting back on meeting time, the study showed that the best results came when people worked together--the more creatively, the better. They demonstrated this by having some participants work alone two times; some work alone, then with a group; and others, with a group both times. The purely group results were better than the efforts by individuals or individuals who later worked in a group.

And perhaps this explains why corporate workplaces are full of committees and meetings, even though everyone claims to hate them: They can work, and even work really well if there is a very smart person in the room.

The bottom line is a person with a high IQ helps a group succeed, but the committee helps the person with the high IQ in return, and everyone gets a better result in the end.

For me, though, it raises a question: Why do schools put so much emphasis on individual student performance? Wouldn't we all be better off if kids learned early on to work in a group? Business-school deans would agree--college-level business programs tend to place a far greater emphasis on group work than is traditionally found in other disciplines.

http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/Departments/elearning/?article=smartsemployees&GT1=8335

[Guest]

One stormy night many years ago, an elderly man and his wife entered the lobby of a small hotel in Philadelphia. Trying to get out of the rain, the couple approached the front desk hoping to get some shelter for the night.

"Could you possibly give us a room here?" the husband asked. The clerk, a friendly man with a winning smile, looked at the couple and explained that there were three conventions in town.

"All of our rooms are taken," the clerk said. "But I can't send a nice couple like you out in the rain at one o'clock in the morning. Would you perhaps be willing to sleep in my room? It's not exactly a suite, but it will be good enough to make you folks comfortable for the night."

When the couple declined, the young man pressed on. "Don't worry about me; I'll make out just fine," the clerk told them. So the couple agreed.

As he paid his bill the next morning, the elderly man said to the clerk, "You are the kind of manager who should be the boss of the best hotel in the United States. Maybe someday I'll build one for you."

As they drove away, the elderly couple agreed that the helpful clerk was indeed exceptional, as finding people who are both friendly and helpful isn't easy.

Two years passed. The clerk had almost forgotten the incident when he received a letter from the old man. It recalled that stormy night and enclosed a round-trip ticket to New York, asking the young man to pay them a visit.

The old man met him in New York, and led him to the corner of Fifth Avenue and 34th Street. He then pointed to a great new building there, a palace of reddish stone, with turrets and watchtowers thrusting up to the sky.

"That," said the older man, "is the hotel I have just built for you to manage."

"You must be joking," the young man said.

"I can assure you that I am not," said the older man, a sly smile playing around his mouth.

The old man's name was William Waldorf Astor, and the magnificent structure was the original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The young clerk who became its first manager was George C. Boldt.

This young clerk never foresaw the turn of events that would lead him to become the manager of one of the world's most glamorous hotels. The Bible says that we are not to turn our backs on those who are in need, for we might be entertaining angels.

Although the basic facts of this version are true, some of the details are (typically) exaggerated.

http://www.snopes2.com/glurge/waldorf.htm

[Guest]

Laughter is the "Best Medicine" for Your Heart

By Michelle Weinstein
University of Maryland Medical System Web Site Writer

Can a laugh every day keep the heart attack away? Maybe so.
Laughter, along with an active sense of humor, may help protect you against a heart attack, according to a recent study by cardiologists at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore. The study, which is the first to indicate that laughter may help prevent heart disease, found that people with heart disease were 40 percent less likely to laugh in a variety of situations compared to people of the same age without heart disease.

"The old saying that 'laughter is the best medicine,' definitely appears to be true when it comes to protecting your heart," says Michael Miller, M.D., director of the Center for Preventive Cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center and associate professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. "We don't know yet why laughing protects the heart, but we know that mental stress is associated with impairment of the endothelium, the protective barrier lining our blood vessels. This can cause a series of inflammatory reactions that lead to fat and cholesterol build-up in the coronary arteries and ultimately to a heart attack."

In the study, researchers compared the humor responses of 300 people. Half of the participants had either suffered a heart attack or undergone coronary artery bypass surgery. The other 150 did not have heart disease. One questionnaire had a series of multiple-choice answers to find out how much or how little people laughed in certain situations, and the second one used true or false answers to measure anger and hostility.

Miller said that the most significant study finding was that "people with heart disease responded less humorously to everyday life situations." They generally laughed less, even in positive situations, and they displayed more anger and hostility.

"The ability to laugh -- either naturally or as learned behavior -- may have important implications in societies such as the U.S. where heart disease remains the number one killer," says Miller. "We know that exercising, not smoking and eating foods low in saturated fat will reduce the risk of heart disease. Perhaps regular, hearty laughter should be added to the list."

Miller says it may be possible to incorporate laughter into our daily activities, just as we do with other heart-healthy activities, such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator. "We could perhaps read something humorous or watch a funny video and try to find ways to take ourselves less seriously," Miller says. "The recommendation for a healthy heart may one day be exercise, eat right and laugh a few times a day."

http://www.umm.edu/features/laughter.htm

[Guest]

Men Vs. Women Jokes

It's all in the punctuation:
An English professor wrote the words, "Woman without her man is nothing" on the blackboard and directed his students to punctuate it correctly.

The men wrote: "Woman, without her man, is nothing."
The women wrote: "Woman: Without her, man is nothing."

[Guest]

Google launches free wireless Internet service

Thursday, August 17, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO: Google has opened a wireless Internet umbrella over its hometown in northern California's high-tech Silicon Valley, enabling anyone in the city to connect online for free.

"It worked smashingly," Chris Sacca, Google head of special initiatives, said on Wednesday. "We have really been looking forward to this day. The citizens have embraced it as their network."

Google spent one million dollars creating a network that lets people with wireless-enabled computers, telephones or other devices to link to the Internet nearly anywhere in the city of Mountain View, which covers almost 31 sqkm.

Google affixed WiFi antennae to city-owned lamp posts and was working with residents who have offered their homes as antenna spots in 'dead zones.'

The cost of running the system was "phenomenally cheap" and the network was in keeping with Google's belief in universal access to the Internet and the world's information, according to Sacca.

"One of the main goals of the project was to inspire citizens to realize there is this promise of access and at the same time to inspire entrepreneurs to develop networks," Sacca said.

"What better way to go ahead and put your money where your mouth is than to build a network and show that it works."

The wireless network also provides Google's more than 1,000 employees in the city opportunities to experiment with new technologies and services.

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1047747

[Guest]

Microwaving Water!

(I did not know this, did you?)

A 26-year old man decided to have a cup of coffee. He took a cup of water
and put it in the microwave to heat it up (something that he had done
numerous times before). I am not sure how long he set the timer for, but
he wanted to bring the water to a boil. When the timer shut the oven off,
he removed the cup from the oven. As he looked into the cup, he noted
that the! water was not boiling, but suddenly the water in the cup "blew up"
into his face. The cup remained intact until he threw it out of his hand, but
all he water had flown out into his face due to the build up of energy. His
whole face is blistered and he has 1st and 2nd degree burns to his face
which may leave scarring.

He also may have lost partial sight in his left eye. While at the hospital, the
doctor who was attending to him stated that this is a fairly common
occurrence and water (alone) should never be heated in a microwave
oven. If water is heated in this manner, something should be placed in the
cup to diffuse the energy such as a wooden stir stick, tea bag, etc., (nothing metal).

It is however a much safer choice to boil the water in a tea kettle.

General Electric's Response:

Thanks for contacting us, I will be happy to assist you. The e-mail that
you received is correct. Microwaved water and other liquids do not always
bubble when they reach the boiling point. They can actually get super
heated and not bubble at all. The super heated liquid will bubble up
out of the cup when it is moved or when something like a spoon or tea
bag is put into it.

To prevent this from happening and causing injury, do not heat any liquid
for more than two minutes per cup. After heating, let the cup stand in the
microwave for thirty seconds! before moving it or adding anything into it.

Here is what our local science teacher had to say on the matter: "Thanks
for the microwave warning. I have seen this happen before. It is caused
by a phenomenon known as super heating. It can occur anytime water is
heated and will particularly occur if the vessel that the water is heated in is
new, or when heating a small amount of water (less than half a cp).

What happens is that the water heats faster than the vapour bubbles can
form. If the cup is very new then it is unlikely to have small surface
scratches inside it that provide a place for the bubbles to form. As the
bubbles cannot form and release some of the heat has built up, the liquid
does not boil, and the liquid continues to heat up well past its boiling point.


What then usually happens is that the liquid is bumped or jarred, which is
just enough of a shock to cause the bubbles to rapidly form and expel the
hot liquid. The rapid formation of bubbles is also why a carbonated
beverage spews when opened after having been shaken."

http://fondtomafound.org/english/articles/Micowaving%20water.htm

[Guest]

Do you know what is family?

Do you understand the meaning of family?

FAMILY = (F)ather (A)nd (M)other, (I) (L)ove (Y)ou

[Guest]

The Oprah Winfrey Show

Twenty Questions to Ask Before You Get Married

You may think that you and your fiancé have talked about everything,
but have you discussed the issues that will make your marriage work?
Answer these questions from Susan Pivers with your partner, and work
towards a shared vision of what your relationship can be.

＠What percentage of our income are we prepared to spend to
purchase and maintain our home on a monthly or annual basis?

＠Who is responsible for keeping our house and yard cared for and
organized? Are we different in our needs for cleanliness and organization?
Is one or both of us neat? Messy? A "pack rat?" An organizational wizard?

Money
＠How much money do we earn together? Now? In one year? In five
years? Ten? Who is responsible for which portion? Now? In one year? Five?
Ten?

＠What is our ultimate financial goal regarding annual income, and
when do we anticipate achieving it? By what means, and through what efforts?

＠What are our categories of expense (rent, clothing, insurance,
travel)? How much do we spend monthly, annually, in each category?
How much do we want to be able to spend? Now? In one year? Five? Ten?

Work
＠How much time will each of us spend at work, and during what
hours? Do we begin work early? Will we prefer to work into the evening?

＠If one of us doesn't want to work, under what circumstances, if
any, would that be okay?

＠How ambitious are you? Are we comfortable with the other's level
of ambition?

Sex
＠Am I comfortable giving and receiving love, sexually? In sex, does
my partner feel my love for him or her?

＠Are we satisfied with the frequency of our lovemaking? How do we
cope when our desire levels are unmatched? A little? A lot? For a night? A
week? A month? A year? More?

Health and Food
＠Do we eat meals together? Which ones? Who is responsible for the
food shopping? Who prepares the meals? Who cleans up afterward?

＠Is each of us happy with the other's approach to health? Does one
have habits or tendencies that concern the other (e.g., smoking, excessive
dieting, poor diet)?
Family

＠What place does the other's family play in our family life? How
often do we visit or socialize together? If we have out-of-town relatives,
will we ask them to visit us for extended periods? How often? For what
length of time?

＠If we have children, what kind of relationship do we hope our
parents will have to their grandchildren? How much time will they spend
together?

Children
＠Will we have children? If so, when? How many? How important is
having children to each of us?

＠How will having a child change the way we live now? Will we want
or be able to take time off from work, or work a reduced schedule? For
how long? In the months or years following the birth of our child, will we
need to rethink who is responsible for housekeeping?

Community and Friends
＠Are we satisfied with the quality and quantity of friends we
currently have? Would we like to be more involved socially? Are we
overwhelmed socially, and do we need to cut back on such commitments?

＠What are my partner's needs for cultivating or maintaining
friendships outside of our relationship? Is it easy for me to support those
needs, or do they bother me in any way?

Spiritual Life
＠Do we share a religion? Do we belong to a church, synagogue,
mosque or temple? More than one? If not, would our relationship benefit
from such an affiliation?

＠Does one of us have an individual spiritual practice? Is the practice
and the time devoted to it acceptable to the other? Does each partner
understand and respect the other's choices?

http://www.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/tows_2002/tows_past_20021028_c.jhtml

[Guest]

The Four Noble Truths

1. Life means suffering.

2. The origin of suffering is attachment.

3. The cessation of suffering is attainable.

4. The path to the cessation of suffering.



Life means suffering.

To live means to suffer, because the human nature is not perfect and
neither is the world we live in. During our lifetime, we inevitably have to
endure physical suffering such as pain, sickness, injury, tiredness, old age,
and eventually death; and we have to endure psychological suffering like
sadness, fear, frustration, disappointment, and depression. Although there
are different degrees of suffering and there are also positive experiences
in life that we perceive as the opposite of suffering, such as ease, comfort
and happiness, life in its totality is imperfect and incomplete, because our
world is subject to impermanence. This means we are never able to keep
permanently what we strive for, and just as happy moments pass by, we
ourselves and our loved ones will pass away one day, too.

The origin of suffering is attachment.

The origin of suffering is attachment to transient things and the ignorance
thereof. Transient things do not only include the physical objects that
surround us, but also ideas, and -in a greater sense- all objects of our
perception. Ignorance is the lack of understanding of how our mind is
attached to impermanent things. The reasons for suffering are desire,
passion, ardour, pursue of wealth and prestige, striving for fame and
popularity, or in short: craving and clinging. Because the objects of our
attachment are transient, their loss is inevitable, thus suffering will
necessarily follow. Objects of attachment also include the idea of a "self"
which is a delusion, because there is no abiding self. What we call "self" is
just an imagined entity, and we are merely a part of the ceaseless
becoming of the universe.

The cessation of suffering is attainable.

The cessation of suffering can be attained through nirodha. Nirodha means
the unmaking of sensual craving and conceptual attachment. The third
noble truth expresses the idea that suffering can be ended by attaining
dispassion. Nirodha extinguishes all forms of clinging and attachment. This
means that suffering can be overcome through human activity, simply by
removing the cause of suffering. Attaining and perfecting dispassion is a
process of many levels that ultimately results in the state of Nirvana.
Nirvana means freedom from all worries, troubles, complexes, fabrications
and ideas. Nirvana is not comprehensible for those who have not attained
it.

The path to the cessation of suffering.

There is a path to the end of suffering - a gradual path of
self-improvement, which is described more detailed in the Eightfold Path.
It is the middle way between the two extremes of excessive
self-indulgence (hedonism) and excessive self-mortification (asceticism);
and it leads to the end of the cycle of rebirth. The latter quality discerns it
from other paths which are merely "wandering on the wheel of becoming",
because these do not have a final object. The path to the end of suffering
can extend over many lifetimes, throughout which every individual rebirth
is subject to karmic conditioning. Craving, ignorance, delusions, and its
effects will disappear gradually, as progress is made on the path.

http://www.thebigview.com/buddhism/fourtruths.html

[Guest]

A brick in your life 生命中的磚頭

A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood
street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar. He was watching for kids
darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought
he saw something.

As his car passed, one child appeared, and a brick smashed into the Jag's
side door. He slammed on the brakes and spun the Jag back to the spot
from where the brick had been thrown. He jumped out of the car, grabbed
some kid and pushed him up against a parked car, shouting, "What was
that all about and who are you? Just what the heck are you doing?"

Building up a head of steam, he went on. "That's a new car and that brick
you threw is gonna cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?" "Please,
mister, please, I'm sorry. I didn't know what else to do!" pleaded the
youngster. "I threw the brick because no one else would stop." Tears
dripped down the boy's chin as he pointed around the parked car.
"It's my brother," he said. "He rolled off the curb and fell out of his
wheelchair and I can't lift him up."

Sobbing, the boy asked the executive, "Would you please help me get him
back into his wheelchair? He's hurt and he's too heavy for me." Moved
beyond words, the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his
throat. He lifted the young man back into the wheelchair and took out his
handkerchief and wiped the scrapes and cuts, checking to see that everything was going to be okay.

"Thank you, sir. And God bless you," the grateful child said to him. The
man then watched the little boy push his brother to the sidewalk toward
their home. It was a long walk backs to his Jaguar... a long, slow walk.

He never did repair the side door. He kept the dent to remind him not to
go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get
your attention. Life whispers in your soul and speaks to your heart.

Sometimes, when you don't have the time to listen... Life throws a brick at
your head. It's your choice: Listen to the whispers of your soul or wait for
the brick! Do you sometimes ignore loved ones because your life is too
fast and busy leaving them to wonder whether you really love them?

[Guest]

"A Woman and a Fork "

There was a young woman who had been diagnosed with a terminal
illness, and had been given three months to live. So as she was getting
her things "in order," she contacted her pastor, and had him come to her
house to discuss certain aspects of her final wishes.

She told him which songs she wanted sung at the service, what scriptures
she would like read, and what outfit she wanted to be buried in.
Everything was in order, and the pastor was preparing to leave when the
young woman suddenly remembered something very important to her.
"There's one more thing," she said excitedly. "What's that?" came the
pastor's reply. "This is very important," the young woman continued. "I
want to be buried with a fork in my right hand."

The pastor stood looking at the young woman, not knowing quite what to
say. "That surprises you, doesn't it?" the young woman said. "Well, to be
honest, I'm puzzled by the request," said the pastor. The young woman
explained. "My grandmother once told me this story, and from there on
out, I have always done so. I have also, always tried to pass along its
message to those I love, and those who are in need of encouragement.
" In all my years of attending church socials and potluck dinners, I always
remember that when the dishes of the main course were being cleared,
someone would inevitably lean over and say, 'Keep your fork". It was
my favorite part because I knew that something better was coming.....like
velvety chocolate cake or deep-dish apple pie. Something wonderful,
and with substance!' So, I just want people to see me there in the casket
with a fork in my hand, and I want them to wonder "What's with the fork?"
Then I want you to tell them: "Keep your fork ....... the best is yet to
come."

The pastor's eyes welled up with tears of joy as he hugged the young
woman good-bye. He knew this would be one of the last times he would
see her before her death. But he also knew that the young woman had a
better grasp of heaven than he did, and than many people twice her age,
with twice as much experience and knowledge. She KNEW that something
better was coming.

At the funeral people were walking by the young woman's casket and they
saw the pretty dress she was wearing, and the fork placed in her right
hand. Over and over, the pastor heard the question; "What's with the
fork?" And over and over he smiled.

During his message, the pastor told the people of the conversation he had
with the young woman shortly before she died. He also told them about
the fork, and about what it symbolized to her. The pastor told the people
how he could not stop thinking about the fork, and told them that they
probably would not be able to stop thinking about it either. He was right.

So the next time you reach down for your fork, let it remind you ever so
gently, that the best is yet to come. Friends are a very rare jewel,
indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend
an ear, they share a word of praise, and they always want to open their
hearts to us. Show your friends how much you care. Remember to
always be there for them, even when you need them more. For you
never know when it may be their time to "Keep their fork."

Cherish the time you have, and the memories you share....being friends
with someone is not an opportunity but a sweet responsibility.

"And keep your fork!!!!

[Guest]

Suggestions for a Happier Life


1. Realize that enduring happiness doesn't come from success. People
adapt to changing circumstances—even to wealth or a disability. Thus
wealth is like health: its utter absence breeds misery, but having it (or
any circumstance we long for) doesn't guarantee happiness.

2. Take control of your time. Happy people feel in control of their lives,
often aided by mastering their use of time. It helps to set goals and break
them into daily aims. Although we often overestimate how much we will
accomplish in any given day (leaving us frustrated), we generally
underestimate how much we can accomplish in a year, given just a little
progress every day.

3. Act happy. We can sometimes act ourselves into a frame of mind.
Manipulated into a smiling expression, people feel better; when they
scowl, the whole world seems to scowl back. So put on a happy face. Talk
as if you feel positive self-esteem, are optimistic, and are outgoing.
Going through the motions can trigger the emotions.

4. Seek work and leisure that engages your skills. Happy people often
are in a zone called "flow"—absorbed in a task that challenges them
without overwhelming them. The most expensive forms of leisure (sitting
on a yacht) often provide less flow experience than gardening,
socializing, or craft work.

5. Join the "movement" movement. An avalanche of research reveals
that aerobic exercise not only promotes health and energy, it also is an
antidote for mild depression and anxiety. Sound minds reside in sound
bodies. Off your duffs, couch potatoes.

6. Give your body the sleep it wants. Happy people live active vigorous
lives yet reserve time for renewing sleep and solitude. Many people suffer
from a sleep debt, with resulting fatigue, diminished alertness, and
gloomy moods.

7. Give priority to close relationships. Intimate friendships with those
who care deeply about you can help you weather difficult times. Confiding
is good for soul and body. Resolve to nurture your closest relationships:
to not take those closest to you for granted, to display to them the sort of
kindness that you display to others, to affirm them, to play together and
share together. To rejuvenate your affections, resolve in such ways to act
lovingly.

8. Focus beyond the self. Reach out to those in need. Happiness
increases helpfulness (those who feel good do good). But doing good also
makes one feel good.

9. Keep a gratitude journal. Those who pause each day to reflect on
some positive aspect of their lives (their health, friends, family, freedom,
education, senses, natural surroundings, and so on) experience
heightened well-being.

10. Nurture your spiritual self. For many people, faith provides a support
community, a reason to focus beyond self, and a sense of purpose and
hope. Study after study finds that actively religious people are happier
and that they cope better with crises.

http://www.davidmyers.org/Brix?pageID=46