Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Fighting the Fear of Failure

In this world nobody can say that they are perfect and never made a mistake. Committing errors is a part of the learning process but unfortunately not all can accept these mistakes. And this people are having the wrong idea that it would be more harmful if they made a mistake and they will never be able to cope up with it. And instead of having more opportunity to succeed they tend to fail more.

The fear of failure can keep your life on hold. It is said that in extreme cases, fear of failure can cause the person to restrict him/herself in doing anything that is risky or without guaranteed success. And therefore contain him/her in the same routine and not moving forward to achieve goals. Just like in the corporate world employees who try new things tend to get rewards for being innovative.

Fear of failure can also give bad impact to your health. Fear is a stress full event that triggers different glands to secrete hormones like adrenaline and dopamine which regulates increase heart rates and blood pressure. This reaction leads to fatigue, decrease of immune function and heart attack.

You have to overcome the fear to failure to be able to succeed. Here are some simple tips on how you can focus on success and overcome your fear:
  • Keep in mind that sometimes you fail.

  • Accept failure. Look at your mistakes in a positive way, instead of blaming yourself or others try to find what went wrong and solve it.

  • Remember that we all fail even the most successful person has a story of failure.

  • If you fail keep in mind that it should not be a reason for you to stop trying. Try and rtry until you succeed.

  • Talk about your fear with your family or friend. Find your strength and confidence with them.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Be a Volunteer and Enjoy its Benefits

In every community you will find people who are willing to help, somebody who dedicates their time on different charity work. But why are they doing this? What benefits are they getting?
Volunteer is a word that came from France which can be translated to “will”, a person who works in a community, doing something out of one’s free will. They may not get paid with the services being rendered but they can enjoy personal and health benefits.

In one of the survey conducted in Canada, it shows that by doing volunteer work, you may not get monetary benefits but you will be to enjoy its health and personal benefits.

Learning Something New
If you are doing volunteer work, different skills like interpersonal skills and communication skills tend to develop and increase knowledge on different health and community. It keeps your brain active and busy and which can lower the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

Make New Friends
Volunteer work keeps you working around with different people and share interest. This activity will eventually develop to friendship.

Build Confidence and Self – esteem
Volunteers require a lot of responsibility and leadership in most cases and with this you will develop your self confidence and self – esteem.

Tax Deduction Privilege
Expenses that associated with volunteering like travel expenses, convention attendance fees, etc. can be tax deductable.

There are a lot of things you will gain if you do volunteer work and that the government and many NGO’s are encouraging people to make their extra time more profitable.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Are You Ready To Walk Down The Aisle?

Marriage is the triumph of hope over experience – Samuel Johnson
Good news for women: experts predict that at least 4 out of 5 women in today's generation will eventually get married. Statistics from the National Marriage Project show that more than 90 percent of women from every generation in the records have gotten hitched.

On the downside, data from the National Center for Health Statistics show that 50 percent of all marriages in which the brides are 25 or older end up in divorce for various reasons. It seems risky to get married because of the high divorce rate. But marriage has always been a risk since you don’t know how well you’ll get along with someone under the same roof regardless of how long you’ve known one another.

There is no foolproof way to find out if you’re ready to get married or not. What you can do is find out how well you really know your partner before you take your relationship to the next level and get engaged.

Here are some issues to reflect on:

Beliefs and Values
  • Do you and your partner have the same religious and political affiliation? If not, do you accept, respect and support each other's spiritual and political beliefs?
  • Do you value similar things like eating meals together?
  • Does your partner do things that you don't approve of, such as smoking and drinking alcohol or vice versa?
  • Can you put up with your partner’s idiosyncrasies?
  • Do the two of you have the same views when it comes to sex? (How often? Can you talk openly about it? Are you both satisfied?)
  • How do you handle disagreements as a couple?
Personal Lives
  • Are you aware of your partner’s medical history? (Things to consider are sexually transmitted diseases, chronic illness, history of illness in the family, special needs, etc.)
  • Has your partner ever been accused of a crime or jailed?
  • How was your partner's childhood like?
  • How do you spend your free time? Do you spend it with friends or do you prefer some “alone time”?
  • What are your partner's hobbies and passions? Do you understand and support them? Is he or she supportive of yours?
  • Is your partner open to discussing past relationships? Will you be comfortable with the information he or she reveals?
  • VERY IMPORTANT: Do you get along with your partner's parents?
Finances and Career
  • What is your partner's financial situation, including outstanding debt, credit score, etc.? (Once married, you will make financial decisions together)
  • Will both of you work?
  • Are you satisfied with your partner's ambition when it comes to work?
  • How many hours do you think should be devoted to work each week? How much time will you spend together?
  • How will you spend your total income? How much will you set aside for savings? Do you think you’ll agree on what to spend on, like vacations, cars, clothing and education of children?
  • Who will be in charge of your finances, like investments, balancing the checkbook, paying bills and taxes? Are you open to sharing the responsibilities?
Home and Family Life
  • Do you plan to buy a house and when?
  • Where do you plan to live? Are you open to relocating?
  • Do you plan to have children?
  • Do you agree on how many children you plan to have?
  • Who will stay home to take care of the kids?
  • Are you open to having any stepchildren around, if there are any?
  • How will you divide the household chores like cooking, shopping for groceries and doing laundry?
  • How will the in-laws fit in with your family life?
  • Do you plan to have pets?
  • Do you agree on where to send the children for schooling?
Marriage is one of the most beautiful things you can experience. Picking the right partner is one of the most important decisions of your life. Your future depends on your choice so don’t take the plunge unless you’re absolutely at peace with your decision.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Things You Can Do to Have Naturally Healthy and Younger Looking Skin

Skin is the most visible part of our body, having a surface area of about 15 – 20 square feet. It protects us from getting dried out and exposure from harmful toxins from the environment. And that is the reason why we need to take good care of it.

As we grow old our skin also ages usually called as internal aging process. More likely your skin will experience the following changes:
  • Collagen production slowing (collagen contributes to skin's firmness)

  • Elastin production decreasing (elastin contributes to skin's elasticity)

  • Fat cells beginning to disappear (which can lead to sagging skin)

  • Your skin losing its ability to retain moisture

  • Frown lines and "crow's feet" appearing due to small muscle contractions

  • Dead skin cells not being shed as quickly

  • Slightly less turnover of new skin cells

This changes usually results to wrinkles, dryness, sagging and discolorations such as “age spots” in which we are not trilled of having. But is there something we can do other that looking for the fountain of youth?

According to experts, diet and lifestyle can help you control the skin aging, here are some the techniques to keep your skin young and healthy:
  1. Drink more water. Nothing keeps your skin hydrated and supple better than a glass of pure H2O.

  2. Limit sun exposure and protect your skin with sun block when in the sun.

  3. Indulge in fruits and veggies. A diet rich in fruits and vegetables will provide you with plenty of antioxidants that will help to protect your skin and overall health.

  4. Avoid cigarette smoke. Cigarette smoke exposes you to damaging free radicals that will accelerate the aging process by damaging the microcapillaries in the skin.

  5. Lay off the harsh soaps and cleansers. Most commercial soaps contain chemicals like tricolosan and sodium lauryl sulfate, which dry and irritate your skin.

  6. Use a good moisturizer to hydrate and plump up your skin cells.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Why Men or Women Cheat?

Have you ever cheated or thought about it? Or do you know somebody who cheated or been cheated?

Cheating is usually a sign of unhealthy relationship. And unfortunately cheating is now widespread. According to Susan Sheppard, cheating or infidelity affects 8 out of 10 marriages in the US. But what can be the reason for cheating? Are there hopes for relationship after cheating?

Experts say that reasons for cheating have evolved. Before traditional reasons for cheating for men are sexual desires but now more men are having emotional affair. On the other hand, from the unhappy relationships some women are now having sexual affairs.

Reasons for cheating vary from one person to another. But here are some common reasons why men or women cheat in general.
  • Emotional and Physical Needs
  • Emotional and physical attractions are important. There are times that when one partner needs to feel wanted, cared and understand emotionally and satisfied with their physical needs. And when this things are starting to be left out, sometimes infidelity stats to come in.

  • Constant Relationship Conflict
  • This is one of the common reasons for cheating. When a relationship is plagued with unhealthy fights and arguments, a person may seek for affection and attention from other person whom he/she feels to understand more.

  • Empowerment
  • Sometimes the need to feel that you can do things can also lead to cheating.

  • To end a Relationship
  • There are times when a person is in a bad relationship but having a hard time to break up with their mate, they tend to cheat and let their partners know it thinking that it is much easier to end a relationship.


A person has many reasons why they cheat but there is no right reason for cheating. It doesn’t matter why you cheat, what matters is that you did it and at some point you’re hurting somebody. There is still hope after one partner has cheated in a relationship. As long as they are still will to accept each other and start things all over again and never don’t cheat again.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Osteoporosis: A Silent Disease

Are you having severe back pain? Do you look smaller due to stooped posture? You might have osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a silent disease in the bone. It makes the bone weaker and more likely to break that even a mild stress like coughing can cause fracture.

According to reports that in 10 people affected with osteoporosis, 8 of them are women and 2 of them are men. And it is considered as a “SILENT DISEASE”. In the early stages of bone loss, you will not feel pain or notice in any symptoms but once it became weak by osteoporosis you may notice the following symptoms:
  • Back pain
  • Loss of height over time
  • Fracture of the vertebrae
Other than age there are other risk factors of osteoporosis. According to NOF (National Osteoporosis Foundation), here are the factors that increase your risk of osteoporosis:
  • Personal history of fracture after age 50
  • Current low bone mass
  • Being female
  • Being thin and/or having a small frame
  • Advanced age
  • A family history of osteoporosis
  • Estrogen deficiency as a result of menopause, especially early or surgically induced
  • Abnormal absence of menstrual periods (amenorrhea)
  • Anorexia nervosa
  • Low lifetime calcium intake
  • Vitamin D deficiency
  • Use of certain medications, such as corticosteroids and anticonvulsants
  • Presence of certain chronic medical conditions
  • Low testosterone levels in men
  • An inactive lifestyle
  • Current cigarette smoking
  • Excessive use of alcohol
  • Being Caucasian or Asian, although African Americans and Hispanic Americans are at significant risk as well
Is there something we can do to prevent osteoporosis if we have one of these risk factors? The answer is yes. There are a lot of things you can do to strengthen your bones and decrease the risk of osteoporosis. These include:
  1. Eat a healthy diet that is rich with calcium and vitamin D.
  2. Regular exercise.
  3. Healthy lifestyle. No smoking and alcohol drinking.
  4. Visit a physician about bone density testing so that you will be able to monitor you bone density is normal to your age.